Legacy of the Shadows
by Rogizo
Summary: Longer name: "The Unforgiven 2: Legacy of the Shadows." When Zed and Syndra team up to take over all of Valoran, Yasuo and Riven must work together to stop them before the world faces the consequences. In this fic you will find a lot of action, drama, and romance themes! Hope you enjoy! Co-written by Diovolo. Book 2 of "The Unforgiven Universe."
1. Prologue

The night was cold and dreary as the masked ninja, Zed and the dark mage, Syndra gazed at the city of Zaun from a distance. A gentle rain poured down on their heads and ran down their bodies, dripping from their fingertips and clothes. They didn't care. From the cliff upon which they sat, the city was distant but it's deep green glow was unmistakable. Zed put his arm around Syndra and whispered in her ear. "This is going to be ours, my love. Not just this but everything- just like you always wanted." Syndra tugged his arm around her shoulder and held onto his hand.

"We are close aren't we? I can feel it. After all these years, we'll finally have our empire."

Zed smiled under his dark mask and leaned into her. "We've known each other a long time," he sighed. "I was so lost back when you found me. I'd only just opened that box, you remember?" Syndra nodded as he continued. "That box that held the secrets of the shadows changed my life, changed me. I am glad it did because it led me to you. You are everything to me Syndra, and once Shen is out of the way, we will have it all."

The mage gently rubbed Zed's shoulder, "I will go along with this Zed but I want you to let it go when we're through okay?"

Zed leaned back slightly and placed a hand on Syndra's leg. "Of course, Syndra. Once Shen is dead and my business is through with he and his order, we will rule together happily. I will have no concern but you."

Syndra grinned, "What is Shen doing on Zaun anyway?"

Zed removed his hand from Syndra and started running the edge of his arm blade against the rocky cliff, "I don't know, but all that matters is that he is here and we will destroy him. We have to."

Syndra smiled calmly and took off her black and purple headdress, holding and it in her hands and looking down at it. "I will make him pay for how he hurt you all those years ago." Zed's hand instantly moved to his mask, holding it on and turning his head away.

"The scars-"

"It's okay Zed, we will have revenge for that! I promise." Zed lowered his shaky hand and turned to her.

Syndra, leaned her face close to Zed's, "Zed, will you take off that mask?"

"Not yet Syndra," he replied, leaning himself slightly away.

Syndra's expression sank in disappointment, "Why not? You know I don't mind your scars."

"I know, but I can't take it off until my mission is complete."

"I don't understand," Syndra pleaded, caressing the cheek of her partner's mask with her open hand.

Zed swiftly entangled Syndra's fingers in his and looked at her longingly. "I want to- believe me I do. But until Shen's blood coats my blade, I must remain focused."

Syndra put her headdress back on and extended her hand, creating a black ball of dark magic in her palm. "This world will be ours Zed, very soon. And the coward Shen," she burst the ball of magic and it dissipated into the air, "will be gone."

"Yes my love," Zed crooned, "there will be no one left to stop us…"

* * *

Author's Notes: Welcome to my new story! Although most chapters will be way way longer than this, I think that this is a good place to start. We plan to give you a big (hopefully good) surprise in chapter 1 which will be released following the conclusion of my other story, The Unforgiven.

Let me know what you think of the prologue! Anyone you want to see in this story? Let me know! I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for chapter 1 in the upcoming weeks.


	2. The End of an Era

"Are you ready Syndra?" Zed tightened the buckles on his wrist blades and hit them against each other with a soft clanging noise. He looked over his shoulder at his future queen who stood atop the cliff upon which they had sat the night before. Her white hair blew in the early morning wind, still easily visible even in the dark. She looked quite at peace with the world and her eyes were closed. Syndra frequently acted this way and Zed had forfeited trying to understand it fully. It was a kind of meditation for her because despite her radical and often aggressive nature, she was, at her core, a much more pensive and harmonious person.

Being an Ionian, Syndra was raised with strong ideals of justice, harmony, and tradition. However, at a young age, Syndra was taken away from all of that and moved to a private home away from civilization. It was there that she developed her more aggressive tendencies and anti-social behaviors. After one more moment of silence, she moved away from the cliff and turned to Zed. Was she ready? "Yes, I am. Are you? This is a stressful day for you. Are you handling it alright?"

Zed moved over to her and reached out to her, pulling her into an embrace and leaning his mask on her headdress. If the metal sheet were not separating Zed's face from her, he'd have been kissing her forehead. "Yes, I will be fine. Just stay close, alright? Shen has his allies and I will not allow them to harm you."

Syndra grabbed Zed's hand and held it, looking into the red eyes of his mask. "You don't have to worry about me today. Let me worry about you. After all, I can take care of myself."

Zed nodded, and clasped her hand between both of his. "Oh, I know you can. How could I forget how we met? I still have the scars on my back." His tone was almost joking and it made Syndra feel a little better to know that the less serious version of Zed was still in there somewhere. Zed had been on edge ever since he had discovered that his old ally turned nemesis, Shen, was in Zaun. He had been refusing to eat, sleep, or remove his mask. What he would agree to do was train and train hard. Constantly he worked with his shadow technique, making every effort to perfect it. It was through this technique and this technique alone that Zed believed he would have an edge over Shen.

Long ago, when they were allies, Shen and Zed sparred often and Shen always came out on top- that is, until Zed discovered the shadow technique. Syndra remembered that story very well as she had heard it dozens of times during her nearly five-year courtship with the ninja.

"Alright," Zed spoke softly, moving his hands away and putting an arm around the Ionian mage. Syndra smiled and leaned into Zed. "Shall we begin?"

She looked up at his mask and a grin swept over her face. "Yes, let's."

* * *

The dingy city of Zaun was quite a strange place to be. The streets reeked of filth and vile fumes filled the air with a green hue that acted as a lens, tinting everything in sight with an emerald blur. The buildings were mostly solid metal and stretched high into the sky, leaning precariously one way or another; some even swayed in the wind. The inhabitants of the strange town were no different. Their genders, colors, and creeds were not even the beginning of what separated their appearances. In Zaun, it wasn't difficult to find creatures that were of an entirely different species! While humans remained the dominant group in the city, creatures such as mutated rats the size of men and augmented test subjects with extra limbs and metal replacements represented about a tenth of the populous.

Zed and Syndra walked carefully down the dreary street, arm in arm, their eyes peeled for Shen or other members of his clan, the Kinkou. Much like his contemporaries in the Kinkou order, Shen had devoted his life to the preservation of balance in all things. He believed light should be tempered with darkness, that order should be challenged with a measure of chaos, and that a leader's rule should be tested with opposition. Zed, on the other hand, believed just the opposite. In his life, the shadow ninja had experienced many things and in each challenge along his path, he found that solutions to problems were most easily achieved through decisive action. He knew that if there was no more light, there would be no battle between it and darkness; if there was no opposition, who would challenge his rule? It was simple in his mind.

As they continued down the street, Zed looked up onto the roof where he had told one of his men to wait. The ninja atop the metal building was dressed exactly the same as Zed but with one difference; he wore a bandana instead of a mask. Zed's mask was one of a kind and while his men had headgear of varying types, Zed alone wore this as his signature.

After Zed had left the Kinkou and Shen behind, he took about a third of the order with him. These men formed a group that Zed had coined "The Order of the Shadow", named after the technique that Zed had mastered. Unfortunately, the shadow technique was special in that it could only be utilized after being magically imbued upon the user and the one object that could grant that power had been long since lost; thought destroyed by Shen after Zed left the Kinkou. The object was a box, etched in Zed's mind. It was a deep, dark grey color and shaped like a cube. It was about a foot long in every direction and Zed could remember in vivid detail the red design swirling around the outside so brightly it appeared to glow out of the dark grey. It was after the box that Zed modeled his armor and mask.

Zed waved with his hand for the henchman on the roof to follow in their wake and he did, moving as swiftly as the shadows that he darted between. Eventually, Syndra whispered to Zed through the dark, quiet early morning air, "Town square is just ahead. Shen's supposed to be there, right?"

Zed nodded silently and continued forward. There had recently been talks of a smuggler passing antique goods through the square. That was all that Zed and Syndra could come up with after weeks of research on why Shen would come to the city of Zaun and it was not much to go on. Despite Zed's vast knowledge of Shen's style and practices, he could not figure why his enemy would emerge from the Kinkou temple in Ionia for the first time in five years and venture here. It simply didn't make sense. However, he had to see if it was true.

Zed and Syndra drew close to the town square and could see the light of a lamp post in the distance, looming over a fountain that spewed murky green water onto the grey cobblestone street. Zed gave Syndra a tap on the shoulder and pointed towards an alleyway on the left, very close to the square where his men were to meet. She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting go of his arm and making her way towards the alley.

Syndra didn't much like the idea of separating herself from Zed but she understood that this was a grudge match that was over a half decade in the making. Zed wanted to do this alone and would have it no other way. She made her way into the dark, shadowy alley and met up with five of Zed's ninjas who were waiting. A sixth, the one wearing the bandana dropped from the roof quietly to join the others. They were to wait and watch. If Shen brought back up, they would even the fight but beyond that, they were not to intervene.

Zed could feel his pulse racing as he entered the square, scanning every corner of the area. To the right, Zed spotted them. Shen was noticeable about fifty yards away. He was unmistakable in his blue ninja robes that covered his whole body. His eyes shone brightly through his mask. What made Shen easy to spot was that his eyes were not normal but yellow. Yellow eyes were the mark of the chosen Kinkou members, the leaders. This trait was passed down in Shen's family for generation and his ancestors had led the Kinkou since its inception centuries ago. The thing that made Shen and his kin so special was that they had the unique ability to warp their ki to a very indefinite extent. Zed himself had been able to manipulate ki from an early age, enhancing his strength and durability beyond the limits of a normal person but Shen was far beyond even that. He had been able to use his ki to heal himself or even link minds with and transport himself to those to whom he had a strong connection. Zed resented Shen for these abilities since their youth together. It never seemed like a fair fight to Zed when their shared master, Shen's father, told them to spar. Shen was born powerful, he was always destined to be the strongest and yet Zed was expected to maintain the same standards. He never could, not until he found the box, not until he realized the power of the shadows.

Zed kept himself under the cover of darkness, crouching behind the fountain in the middle of the square where the lamp cast a shadow. He watched as Shen spoke to a man and put his hand to his head as if something had gone wrong. Zed was curious what that was but now was not the time to find out. Shen bowed to his companion and the man left, leaving Shen alone in the square. Zed breathed slowly, trying to calm himself, ready himself for the fight.

"I know you're there, Zed," Shen called out into the dim morning. "Have you forgotten that I can sense you?" Zed let out a soft growl of frustration. Despite being apart for nearly five years, Shen's ki connection to Zed remained strong enough to sense him. Zed stood and made his way out into the open, facing Shen. The two stared each other down for a short time before Zed extended his wrist blades and Shen reached up over his shoulders, drawing his knives. "So, my old friend, here we are." Zed remained completely silent, carefully watching Shen's movements. His body felt stiff and his heart raced, sending waves of heat through his body. "Tell me, why is it you have come here?"

"To face you, once and for all!" Zed sneered back, dropping into his stance.

Shen spun his thin knives in his hands, not yet readying himself for combat. "Oh Zed, do you remember last time you and I dueled?" Shen's voice was playful, almost taunting Zed.

Immediately, Zed reached for his mask, wincing as his mind flashed back to his last encounter with Shen. He remembered that horrible night. "The scars…"

"Yes, do you think you are so much stronger now, now that I can make you waver with words alone?"

Zed shook off the memories and returned to his stance. "I have grown in ways you cannot imagine, Shen! You may still lead the Kinkou, but I lead something much greater!"

Shen took a few steps towards Zed, still not even holding his weapons defensively. He twirled the knives casually with practiced ease, conversing as if talking over a pot of tea back in Ionia. "Oh Zed… No, you are misled! You are so enshrouded in your shadows that you fail to see the truth! Clearly, you did not heed my father's teachings, since you betrayed him. But, I am willing to right his wrong and put an end to you if you make me. We all saw you going down this path but my father chose not to stop you. He trusted in you. I will not repeat his mistake."

Zed's temper flared and he waved his wrist blade at Shen, "Challenge me Shen, you shall not be an orphan long!"

Shen stood and watched Zed for a moment, his yellow eyes glinting in the dim light of the coming morning before lowering himself into his own stance. Zed did not have long left under the cover of night. The sun was about to come up.

The two looked at each other for a moment.

The red and yellow eyes in the square were all that Syndra could see from her vantage point as she peered around the corner in the alley. She clenched her fists tightly, wanting to burst from her hiding place and help Zed! She could tell that he was nervous by the way he stood. His usual bravado and confidence was not there as his rigid stance prevented the fluid movements she had watched him practice. As She took a first step towards Zed, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned. The bandanaed ninja pointed across the square to an alley opposite them. She squinted to see but was able to make out a silhouette in the darkness. Shen had brought backup.

Syndra whirled around and conjured two dark magic orbs in her palms. She tilted her head to the side, indicating Zed's men to move around the edge of the square towards the enemy. They obeyed without a word. Syndra herself did not want to make a noise so she summoned a small amount of her strength to levitate herself a few inches off the ground so that she could make her way behind the ninjas towards the other side of the square. As she edged along, she continued to watch Shen and Zed as they encircled each other, blades drawn.

Zed's eyes were locked with Shen's. Both knew what was going to happen but neither wanted to land the first strike. Shen did not want to kill Zed and Zed was afraid to engage combat with Shen. But eventually, Shen made his choice. He had to balance out his feelings, his memories of loving Zed with logic. Decisively, he made the first attack with his right dagger, lunging towards Zed. The shadow ninja was forced to loosen himself up in an instant as he curved his body at an awkward angle to avoid the point of Shen's blade. Shen moved his blade sideways in a horizontal slash towards Zed's body next but only hit smoke as Zed burst into shadows.

Syndra smiled, this was more like it. This was what Zed had practiced. She had helped him become more adept at utilizing his shadow technique over the last month by launching spheres of magic at him and forcing him to either use the shadows to dodge or get pummeled. After about a week of bludgeoning injuries, she noticed significant improvement and by the end of the month, she could seldom land a hit. Zed's mobility and dodging were beyond that of anything she had seen before. Finally, she reached the edge of the alley where Shen's backup was and stopped behind Zed's soldiers as they looked around the corner.

Clang! One of Zed's men dropped to the ground with a clatter, an axe looking weapon protruding from his neck. The rest of Zed's men drew back, readying knives and shurikens for combat. Syndra took the next move, tossing away her two magic spheres and levitating them around the corner to hit anyone who was just on the other side. However, they hit nothing as a young woman slid under them on her knees and got back to her feet. She wore deep green body armor and a mask that covered the lower half of her face. In her hands, she wielded twin axes that were known by the ninjas as 'kamas.' Reflexively, Syndra sent out a burst of magical energy in her direction forcing her to jump back and out of the way.

Zed glanced over at Syndra's fight with the green clad ninja as he weaved out of the way of another stab from Shen, fading back into the shadows. "I see, you needed to bring Akali, did you? She always was your special girl."

Shen chuckled as he took a step back, watching for where Zed would reappear, trying to sense his ki. "Yes, but she's all I brought. You brought a small army and… who is that?" Quickly he turned around and blocked Zed's wrist blade as it reached from the darkness, swinging again and meeting only dark smoke.

Zed reformed ten feet away and returned to his original stance. "Her name is Syndra and she is the one who brought about your doom! Without her, I'd have died a long time ago."

"Oh, I see," Shen sneered, "So I suppose I'll have to kill you and then end her."

"You'll never touch her!" Zed rushed back in, leaping into the air and disappearing for an instant before reappearing right in front of the Kindou ninja and landing a kick on his knee, which gave a loud crack. Shen groaned in pain and stumbled, shifting his weight onto his other leg, away from his broken knee.

Shen threw one of his knives at Zed who melted away once more. Taking the brief moment of safety, Shen focused on his knee with his ki, forming a barrier of energy around the break, temporarily mending it. The wound still hurt but at least he could put some weight on it. Once again, Zed reappeared and stabbed at Shen who turned and blocked the attack with his remaining knife.

Akali weaved between Zed's ninjas, keeping close to them so that Syndra could not target her without accidentally landing a hit on one of her allies as well. However, this did not last long as the green ninja's axe work was refined and practiced to the point of defeating all five of the remaining shadow ninjas in a matter of seconds. As their bodies clattered to the ground, Akali gave a curt smile to Syndra who growled in frustration, sending another ball of dark energy at her opponent. Akali took it in stride and lept over the ball, hoping to land on top of Syndra but the Ionian mage was too fast even for her. Syndra's first orb was followed quickly by a burst of purple energy that sent Akali flying back into the metal wall of a building, dropping her to the ground with a thud.

Back in his fight, Zed was taking a beating from Shen now. After a few minutes of fighting, Shen had managed to get a better lock on Zed's ki and was no longer falling for his shadow tricks. After a few close calls and scratches on his shoulder and ribs, Zed was running out of energy. He stepped back a few feet, reaching for the shurikens attached to the back of his armor. He tossed two of them at Shen who was able to evade one but took the other in the shoulder, grunting in pain. He wrenched it out and dropped it to the ground, with a clatter. "That's it!" Shen dashed at his old friend, raising his knife high in the air. Zed fell back onto the cobblestone, raising a hand over his face to shield himself from what was sure to be a killing blow.

But all of a sudden, Shen was struck from behind and was launched over Zed's prone form into a heap a few feet away. Zed quickly got to his feet and looked over at Syndra who smiled.

"Thought you could use some help."

Zed nodded. "Thank you, Syndra. I will take it from here."

"Wait!" Syndra called to Zed, making him turn back around to look at her. "Try using your double."

Zed glanced over at Shen who was back on his feet and shaking off the injury. "Syndra! I don't know if-"

"Aren't you the one who is always talking about not fearing power but embracing it? I believe in you!" She shouted, turning back to her own fight with Akali who was finally standing back up after being thrown into the wall.

Zed grinned under his mask took a few steps towards Shen again, extending his wrist blades. "Ready to die, Shen?"

Shen smirked, "You needed help just to survive, what makes you think you can still win this?" He knelt and picked up his second knife from where it had landed after he threw it.

The shadow ninja did not respond but instead charged at Shen, holding his blades behind him as he ran head first into the Kinkou leader. Shen stabbed at Zed, knowing he would disappear and he did. Shen almost smiled to himself. This was too easy. Zed only had one trick. Quickly, he locked back on to Zed's ki and turned to where he knew Zed was reforming. Sure enough, a figure in the shadows was there. Shen lunged and stabbed at Zed, realizing only too late that the silhouette was not his target, but a duplicate, formed from shadows. His blade passed straight through it and he lost balance, stumbling forward on his hurt knee.

"Where's my ki now, Shen?"

Shen's eyes opened wide in shock as he looked down at the blade that was now protruding from his chest. He looked over his shoulder at Zed who was standing behind him and murmured, "Zed…" Zed retracted his blade out of Shen's back and took a step away, letting his old friend fall to his knees, blood splattering the cobblestone.

Akali backed away from her fight with Syndra to watch as Shen fell to the ground, turning his gaze to her. Her jaw dropped as she watched the impossible happen. The greatest Kinkou ninja had been defeated by Zed, the master of the Order of the Shadow. Shen wavered for a moment on his knees, about to fall but before he did, he reached out to Akali with one hand as if trying to grab onto her across the distance that separated them. "Akali… run." The ki in Shen's knee gave out, causing the break to rupture again and he fell forward onto the ground, the yellow light in his eyes fading.

Akali's eyes darted quickly between Zed and Syndra then back to Shen with a look of terror on her face. With one final look at her friend and master, Akali nodded and ran as fast as she could through the street away from the scene.

Zed and Syndra did not try to follow but instead made their way over to each other. Zed caught Syndra in a hug as soon as he reached her, holding her close. "Syndra, we've done it. Shen is at last no more."

Syndra wrapped her arms around Zed and smiled. "And you are free, my love. You don't have to think about him ever again. Revenge is yours."

Zed pulled back from the hug and took a step away, stroking his chin. "But the question remains, why was Shen even here? What was so important that he had to come out of his temple personally to attend?"

Syndra took another step and hugged Zed again, "I don't know, but does that matter?"

Zed shook his head and looked back at Syndra, "No, I suppose not. We've won. We're together. That's what matters." With that, Zed took her by the hand and together they walked out of the square, back towards their camp. The shadow ninja took one final look over his shoulder at Shen before leaving the scene.

* * *

The sun rose over Zaun, illuminating the streets as people began to make their way through the square and, eventually, a crowd began to form. Observers watched as the bodies were sectioned off by local law enforcement so that bystanders would not disturb them. However, before long they would likely be picked up and carted away to be experimented on in a lab somewhere. With the corruption of Zaun's police and the excess of scientists that desired human subjects, there was little to no chance that Shen or any of the deceased ninjas would get a proper burial.

News eventually spread of the seven dead ninjas that littered the streets of Zaun and a question was asked by all who heard the story, although none could find the answer: who had done this and for what purpose? It wasn't long before thrill seekers, explorers, and investigators alike arrived to try to solve the mystery.

One such man strode into the familiar town with an Ionian sword in his right hand and a bottle of whisky in the other. He bit the cork off of the bottle and spat it to the side before taking a long swig. As he reached the town's center, the group surrounding the bodies split to make way for his billowing cloak and leather boots to pass. As he reached the blood stained pavement, he reached up and adjusted the brown pointed hat atop his long black hair.

One person had not moved away from the bodies and bloodstains and was instead crouched down in front of them, looking carefully at the splatter. She was a little bit shorter than the man and sported brown and silver armor over her chest that matched a thick bracer over her right forearm. Her other arm and over her chest under her armor was bandage cloth, wrapped well but clearly wearing down from use. Possibly most notably, this young woman had white hair that the man recognized immediately although he had not seen her in about five years.

"Well funny seeing you again, Riven."

She turned around, her hand instantly reaching for the handle of a sword with a broken blade that lay next to her and drawing it. But as soon as she saw who it was who spoke the words, she lowered it back down and exhaled. "I didn't think I'd see you again…"

"Remember what I told you when we first met? You can't run from your past. I had a feeling we would see each other again," he said, crouching down next to her and flashing a casual grin.

Riven gave a short, unconvincing laugh of acknowledgement before continuing. "But why are you here, Yasuo?"

Yasuo stood up as a wind passed, blowing his dark hair and cloak to the side and looked around the square. "Same thing as you, I think. Trying to forgive myself and recover my honor."

Riven nodded solemnly, her past, deeply intertwined with Yasuo's. In fact, it was only because of her actions that Yasuo became the guilt-ridden wanderer that he was. "Yes, my hands are stained. But, I'm going to right the wrongs of my past by saving Noxus."

Yasuo smirked, "So we are both hunting and killing as penance for hunting and killing?"

Riven nodded, her gaze much more serious than Yasuo's. "Yes, violence to end violence."

Yasuo laughed, "Violence will never end, Riven. All I know is that I will not die dishonored. I killed far too many people in my pursuit of you."

"Yes," Riven agreed her expression turning irritable, "You should not have killed a lot of those people, the second Ionian hunter for example."

"Oh yeah, the one I fought in Piltover, the fast one… What was her name again?"  
Riven glared angrily. That hunter had been her friend and had shown her kindness when nobody else would. There was seldom a day that went by that Riven did not think about her friend that died at the hands of the man before her now. "Her name was Miyabita, Miya was what I called her."

Yasuo fussed with his sword, unsheathing it and looking carefully at the blade, forcing his eyes to go somewhere, anywhere but Riven's. "She attacked me."  
"Well you didn't have to kill her!"

Yasuo's calm snapped and his eyes pierced into Riven's. "And you didn't have to kill that elder."

Riven took her turn to look away, focusing intently all of a sudden on the blood splatters. "You know I regret that, every single moment of my life I regret my actions."

"Yeah?" Yasuo asked, not letting her off the hook, "Well I am forced to live with the same regret because of your foolishness."

The crowd around Riven and Yasuo started murmuring to each other, wondering what exactly was going on. After a few moments the crowd fell silent again and Riven looked up, talking in a slightly higher pitched voice as if trying to be as non-threatening as possible towards Yasuo. "So ninjas?"

Yasuo slammed his sword back into its sheath with a clank and sat down next to Riven. "Ninjas." Yasuo shrugged, "That color scheme look familiar to you?"

Riven contemplated for a moment before responding, "What do you mean?"

"The dark grey and the whole dark vibe going on with these six, does that not ring 'Shadow Isles' to you?"

Riven and Yasuo both remembered the dark and dreary feel of the Shadow Isles. The young woman remembered even more so. A chill ran up her spine as the recollection came to her. The horribly eerie place had haunted her nightmares for months after she had left and the thought of it was enough to make her hands and feet tingle uneasily. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as Yasuo took a scoot away from her. "Riven, you okay?"

Riven opened her brown eyes and gasped. In her momentary flashback, she had inadvertently caused her broken sword to begin to glow a bright green color. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Quickly she stopped channeling her power and the sword's light was extinguished.

"Still got that soul sword deal huh?" Yasuo inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Err, yeah, I do," Riven admitted. Again, the two had a shared memory of the time that a portion or Riven's soul had become attached to her blade, linking to two of them and forging an unusual magical bond between them. Riven's sword, imbued with her soul, had incredible capabilities that included small energy bursts, flashes of light, and most notably, reforming out of the broken shards into one enormous greatsword with unbreakable might.

Yasuo nodded and looked over at the other ninja in blue, Shen. "So, what about this guy?"

Riven turned her body around to look at Shen, who was laying on his stomach a distance away from the others. "I don't know, but I think you're right. We should check the Shadow Isles. We don't want another fiasco like last time."

Yasuo grinned confidently. Last time they were there, they ended up getting assaulted by a monster made entirely of burning souls called Thresh and a band of undead monsters. While Thresh had been killed on that day, Yasuo knew one of his allies by name that had survived, Yorick. Yorick's duty in Thresh's master plan was to use Riven as bait to lead Yasuo to the Shadow Isles where his soul could be harvested by Thresh. However, Yorick alone did not seem to Yasuo to be a particularly strong opponent by comparison. If he wanted answers, Yorick would be a good place to start. "So, I'm going to go check it out..." Yasuo's voice faded and he looked around awkwardly. "You wanna come?" It was the most unusual feeling in the world. Talking to a friend after not seeing them for five years often seems difficult but in this case, the "friend" was someone Yasuo had attempted to hunt down and kill as revenge for her ruining his entire life and costing him the life of his brother.

It was weird to say the least but Riven smiled a little bit. Perhaps things could be better between them. Riven optimistically hoped that maybe the five years apart, cooling down, would serve them well if they were to partner up. "Alright, but just this once, okay? I have my mission to redeem Noxus still and I cannot waver from it."

Yasuo shrugged, "I'm not asking for more than one time; hell, I'm not even asking for one time." He stood up and took another swig from his bottle, stepping away, "I was just asking since you seemed interested. I could handle this myself."

Riven smirked, "I'm coming with you. If the Shadow Isles are involved in this, I could use some payback for Thresh knocking me out."

"Hah, I bet," Yasuo smiled, gesturing at the street out of the square towards one exit to the city, "Ready when you are I guess."

"Let's go then!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading chapter 1 of Legacy of the Shadows!

Something that some viewers may have noticed and others may be unaware of is that this is in fact a sequel! The original story, if you'd like to check that out is called The Unforgiven and delves into the story of Yasuo and Riven (It shows how they came to be as they are in this story) BUT if you have NOT read that story, DO NOT WORRY. The Unforgiven is NOT required reading for this story. I cannot stress that enough so I'm going to put it in bold beneath this.

**YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THE UNFORGIVEN (THE PREVIOUS STORY) TO UNDERSTAND THIS BUT IT MAY BE INTERESTING**

If you don't want spoilers of what happened, I seriously suggest you don't read on until you've finished the original. However, if you're like me, you'll likely just want to get on with the show and I'll explain all needed information in the form of brief expositional conversations in due time.

We've tried to work it out so that you don't have to worry one way or the other.

Anyway, catch ya next time for the next chapter and I'm really excited to share more. Oh man is it nice to be on a new adventure!


	3. Tied to the Past

In the middle of the cold night, the rains came again; rolling over the hills just south of Zaun where Zed sat up with his mask and armor still on, awake in his tent next to Syndra as she slept. The tent was a dark grayish green color that blended well against the darkness of the hills and the whole city of Zaun in general. Zed gazed at his sleeping queen with conflict in his heart. One part of him wanted Shen's death to be the end of their struggle but the other half wanted to know what Shen was doing talking to some man in the middle of the night, thousands of miles from his beloved temple in Ionia. Syndra would not want to know or rather, not care to. As far as she was concerned, the only person with the capability of challenging them was gone. Although there were other leaders around the world like Jarvan IV, prince of Demacia and Swain, grand general of Noxus, neither would take an up and coming ruler seriously until it was too late. Zed and Syndra were confident that together they could defeat any foe. After all, there are not many in the world who are capable of facing off against a master of a forbidden martial art style and the most powerful mage of a generation.

Zed sighed and looked away from Syndra, having made up his mind. As much as he wanted to have it her way and never look back, he couldn't. Zed wanted closure. Careful not to wake Syndra, he stood and made his way to the flap of the tent where he slipped though silently and crept off into the night.

With swift, decisive strides, Zed quickly overcame the distance between his tent and the main road that lead away from Zaun. Once on that road, he would be able to hopefully find the man and his wagon. The road was quite straight and the little rocks that littered the way made soft crunching noises as they were trampled over by Zed's boots. For once, Zed didn't particularly care to be stealthy. Once he got that wagon in sight, there was no way that they would be able to escape him.

After what felt like an hour of running, Zed saw it in the distance. A dark red wagon parked on the side of the road for the night. A surge of energy flooded Zed's heart as he increased his pace towards his goal.

"Ugh, what… what was that?" a scruffy looking man in the wagon muttered to himself, rolling over in his old, torn up blanket. Something was going on outside! Quickly, he reached under his pillow for a dagger and drew it out. The crooked blade glinted in the moonlight pouring in through the open window. The man scanned the area, poking his head out of the wagon to see if anyone was there. Nothing. After a moment he withdrew and decided to just go back to bed. There was no point in being paranoid. He pulled his head back in and closed the curtains, blocking the end of the wagon so that nobody could se in or out. The only light was now coming from the window. However, as he laid down he noticed a distinct lack of moonlight. In fact, there was an eerie darkness inside the small wagon. It wasn't just dark, it was pitch black. "Oh my gods!" the man screamed, sitting up quickly and looking behind him in horror at where he had been laying. Over his pillow crouched a dark figure, a shadow. "Wh-what is this?" he shuddered. The shadow of Zed tilted it's head and pointed back over the man's shoulder. He turned to look and immediately found himself ensnared in the real Zed's grip. He was about so scream when Zed held a finger to his mask over his lips.

This seemed to calm down the bewildered, tired looking man who immediately dropped his dagger in surrender. "Look, mister," he whispered feverishly, "I told your buddy that I don't have it. It's been lost for five years! All I can confirm to you is that it was never looted out of the temple and sold off or destroyed, honest! That's it!"

Zed thought about this for a moment, excited at the possibility of what 'it' might be. "What are you blabbering about?"

"The box!" he hissed back, "The box your other ninja friend came to me about! He thought I had it but I didn't! I swear I don't." With that, he tried to pull himself away from the masked ninja but Zed kept him firmly in his grasp as he considered what to do next.

"The box," Zed said in his normal tone of voice, much louder than his captive was expecting, making him jump, "What kind of box was it?" Zed knew that the answer to this question could be one of many things but he knew what answer he wanted and his heart beat quickly waiting for the answer.

"The box of shadows! That horrible thing filled with darkness for the legends. The one that you people said some evil enemy of the Kinkou would come…"

Zed chuckled softly and pushed the looter, black market dealer, or whatever he was down onto the floor of the wagon and stood. "Guess who?"

Zed stepped back through the curtains and back onto the road, beginning the long walk back to Syndra's side. He made it a few steps before the man's voice rang out from behind him. "You'll never find it! We searched for five years!"

Zed waved his hand dismissively and kept walking off into the night, his mind racing. The box was still out there. The box was still out there.

* * *

"Do you ever stop drinking?" Riven asked irritably, looking over her shoulder at Yasuo who was walking an uneven path in her wake about twenty feet behind. The road to Demacia, where Riven and Yasuo planned on snagging a ship to the Shadow Isles was long and arduous and within only a few hours, Yasuo had started drinking and had been at it all day, turning his brisk walk into a drunken stagger. Riven had disliked this from the start but now her frustration had finally snapped.

Finishing a prolonged swig of whisky, the Ionian looked to Riven, "Should I? I mean, why don't you?"

Riven smirked, "Because I have standards for myself."

Yasuo laughed and broke into a jog to catch up. He put a hand on Riven's shoulder and slowed her to his pace, "Standards? You think this piece of trash world around us has standards? Do you think they care if you're sober?"

Riven shrugged Yasuo's hand off and glared at him again, "I think that people need saviors who can take care of themselves. If you can't even do that, why should anyone think you can protect them?"

Again, Yasuo laughed, "Why do you think I'm out here, darling? For them? To save a bunch of people I have never met?" He gave Riven a second to respond but when she did not he continued, "No, I'm here for me. I did things that I'll admit that I'm not proud of and I am protecting people now but not for their sake, for mine. This is my redemption, not their… salvation or whatever you want to call it. I'm no white knight."

Riven took a couple of steps away from Yasuo and kept walking. She had never really gotten to know the man who had hunted her five years ago but this was certainly not what she expected. From the brief conversation they had while in the Shadow Isles together, she learned that he was brash, courageous, unyielding, and snarky. She had never considered that the man before her now was so stubborn and careless. She still regretted ruining his life by getting him framed for the death of his elder in Ionia but if she was being totally honest with herself, at this point she was glad it was him and not someone more virtuous. "You're trying to protect yourself from damnation by being fighting for others but you miss the point! The point of fighting for others is to actually fight for them! I'm trying to save all of Noxus!"

Yasuo took another swig, "And how's that working out for you?"

Riven fell silent. "I haven't made much progress recently but… but I will! If I could just gain the support of Darius and Draven, I might stand a chance." Yasuo remembered the Noxian golden boys. The Blood Brothers, they were nicknamed. They gained a reputation together for being brutal warriors, beloved by the Noxian populous for their strength and charisma. Draven was the fan favorite, loved for is pompous attitude and his crowd-pleasing presence while Darius was the iconic soldier of Noxus. If you ever saw Noxian propaganda, Darius was likely on the poster. That concept made Riven a little uncomfortable as she was previously the poster child of Noxus. Their leader, Swain had always wanted her to replace him one day as the Grand General and help lead their people to the destruction of Demacia, their rival city state. However, as everyone knew now, Riven had disobeyed orders, fled and was not officially exiled by the state. Nevertheless, Riven knew that if the Blood Brother's took her side, the rest of Noxus would sway with them.

"So you're out here, trying to track down a ninja killing assassin so that you can unify Noxus?" Yasuo poked.

"I'm here so that I can learn and help people and become the leader that Noxus needs me to be."

"Ah!" Yasuo exclaimed, "You're out here so that you can be worthy of a throne. You're here for your own motives as well."

"But my motives will save people, thousands of them!"

"But they end with you wearing a crown," Yasuo pointed out, "At least mine end more subtly."

Riven smirked, "And how do yours end. Drowning in vodka?"

The Ionian laughed yet again and held up a hand to silence her, "First of all, I drink whisky, not vodka. And second, you might be surprised at how I want my journey to end."  
"How do you want it to end?"  
"Well," Yasuo paused. He had never told anyone this before but he supposed there was no point in acting like it was a secret or even a big deal. "I want to get old."

"You want to get old?" Riven asked skeptically, "What?"

"I want to survive all of this shit that I go through. I want to finally gain forgiveness not just from the Ionians but from myself and then yes, I want to grow old. One day every soldier has to stop fighting and one day, yes, I will stop wandering."

"Huh," Riven nodded. That answer surprised her. She expected that he would want riches or glory or something for his heroic actions but maybe not. Considering his Ionian background, where the elders of the village were treated and respected highly, that did make more sense. Surviving that long and being able to live in peace or even pass on his knowledge did seem to be the perfect ending for Yasuo's tale.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hope you liked the chapter! This was a much shorter chapter than I generally write and I was wondering if you liked that! Shorter chapters means that less will happen in each but there will be more of them and they can be released more often! in general, I think this story will take on a slightly slower pace than The Unforgiven did but that's just because I'd like to think that my writing is evolving. If you read the final few chapters of Unforgiven, you may have noticed that they got really really long. In fact, the climax chapter called, The Reckoning, took me 7.7 thousand words, nearly DOUBLE any other chapter in the story. Clearly detail is becoming more important to me and I'm using a more artistic voice rather than a utilitarian approach as I previously had. Hopefully, the change is good.

Anyway, please let me know if you find the shorter chapters acceptable because while I may swap back and forth between long and short ones from time to time, these will definitely make things easier in terms of keeping a good release time (3-5 days per chapter).

And now I have to address the shippers in the audience. Yeah, I know a lot of you are gonna go crazy for Yasuo x Riven and I promise to address the ship when the time comes. However, if you're here just for that, you may be disappointed because that is not going to take the front seat. Most important to Diovolo and I is the plot itself and so while romance will occur at multiple points, especially from our two villains, it simply cannot be the main focus if we want to deliver the thought out and complex plot we have planned for Legacy of the Shadows.

Thanks for reading once again, and leave those comments/reviews! Not only do I love to read them, but I want your input!


	4. The Hunt Begins

"Zed?!" The shadow ninja heard his own voice ringing out through the hills in the form of Syndra's voice. Immediately, he broke into a full tilt sprint, straining to get back to her as quickly as possible. As soon as he reached the tent again, he tore open the curtains and found Syndra inside, putting on her headdress and bracers. When she heard him enter she whirled around, conjuring a black ball of magic and slamming Zed in the chest with it. Zed was knocked back through the tent flap by the force of the hit and was knocked onto his back. He groaned and shakily got back to his feet.

"Syndra, what the hell?"

Syndra burst from the tent after him and marched straight up, grabbing Zed by the mask and yanking. Zed wasn't about to stop her so he allowed his face to be lowered to eye level with her. "Where the hell did you go last night Zed? I woke up and you were gone."

Zed tried to stand back up but Syndra gave a strong pull on the mask, keeping him hunched over. "Syndra I went out to find the man that Shen was talking to yesterday before we arrived. I found him."

Syndra glared, "And? Why do you even care?"

Zed grabbed her wrist in his hand and lowered it away from his mask, keeping it in his grasp before responding, "If Shen was willing to leave his temple to talk to this man, I figured it would be worth a midnight stroll to find out why."

Syndra didn't seem convinced, "So who was he?"

Zed shrugged, "It was a black market looter or dealer of some kind but it's what he told Shen that interests me. He says that after the destruction of the temple when I left five years ago and everyone evacuated, no looters came and stole away the box. It's not destroyed! It's still out there."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because if Shen didn't know where it was, he clearly didn't destroy it and if the looters didn't take it, it must still be around somewhere!"

Syndra looked at him carefully, "Zed, if all that is true, then nobody moved it at all. It would still be in the same place and you know that it won't be there. Shen would have had it if it was never moved. It's still out of your reach and it still may be destroyed."

Zed let go of her hand and turned away, shaking his fist with a mixture of excitement and agitation at her dismissive response. "But we don't know that. Syndra, my love, imagine the possibilities! Think of what we could achieve if I had that box again!"

Syndra sighed, "I thought it would be over with Shen dead. I was busy thinking of the possibilities of us without him hanging over our heads as a threat."

Zed groaned and stomped a few feet before turning and pointing at Syndra, "Imagine us with no threats hanging over us at all! Imagine if I could control every shadow in the world! I mean, I just got a glimpse of what was inside. My mastery is but a fraction of the full potential!"

"But do you really need the full potential?"

Zed stepped slowly back over to her and raised his hand up to touch his mask. "Syndra," he spoke as he removed the dark grey metal that covered his scarred face. "Think of what we could do together with this power. Nobody else would ever have to die from war. Our takeover would be instantaneous! There would be no clash of armies if everyone knew that their very shadow could strike them down at any moment. We could save thousands of lives with just a little more work." Syndra was taken aback by the sudden shift in Zed's tone. She let slip a slight smile as she gazed into the eyes of a man whose face she had almost forgotten after weeks of never taking off the mask. Zed had jet-black hair and deep brown eyes that almost seemed to glow when he looked at her. His skin was pale and scarred with one particularly deep cut that stretched diagonally from his right eye to his left cheek, leaving a deep indentation across his face. Nevertheless, Zed was handsome and youthful looking despite this.

"Fine," Syndra finally replied, "I'll help you find the box if it means avoiding more bloodshed. But after that, promise me that that's the end. We won't have to do anything else. It will just be us ruling the world together."

Zed smiled and leaned in to kiss Syndra softly on the lips, "Of course my love, until the end of time."

* * *

As the grand city of Demacia came into view on the horizon, Yasuo looked at Riven next to him keeping her steady stride even and her eyes focused on the objective. "How does it feel to be a Noxian going to Demacia?"

Riven took a moment to respond, looking at the ground with a pensive stare. "It's strange. So many years I had been manipulated to believe it to be a horrible place, a cancer to be severed from the world. Though I no longer feel that hatred, I know its citizens have every right to hold such animosity towards me."

Yasuo smirked, "Yes, I forgot, you're the white knight of Noxus." Yasuo cracked his knuckles and quickened his pace, turning to walk backwards in front of Riven. "Well, when you were with Noxus, running around slaughtering the elderly and framing the innocent, Demacia was somewhat of an ally for Ionia. Plus, the prince and I are friends. I saved his life once from your friend Katarina so I'm sure he'll help us arrange a ride to the Shadow Isles."

Riven turned away from Yasuo, clearly ashamed of the truth he spat at her "Though I cannot deny what I've done in the past, at least I look towards the future with desire," Riven lifted her head, "I once felt empty, uncertain of my own worth as a human being, but I did not wallow in despair. I rose up and decided that I would not fade standing still!"

Yasuo laughed and shook his head, "Well aren't you just extra special," he chuckled, pivoting in place and continuing forwards towards the city. He walked for a moment without saying a word before turning back around. "You know, I would have gone to the end of the world to find you. I did go to the end of the world and people died for it, good people." Yasuo's mind wandered to the though of this good friend and mentor, Jax, who had paid with his life for the mistakes of Riven and Yasuo. "You may not be the hardened Noxian killer that I set out to destroy but damn it Riven, stop pretending you're better than I am. You're just another Noxian in a struggle for power."

Riven glared at Yasuo "Better than you!? What do you think you are, some kind of saint!? Don't act like you haven't killed the innocent or the just! And another thing I'm not acting righteous because I want to impose myself upon others, I act this way because it is what I believe. I follow my convictions not only for myself, but also for the people I wish to save. Noxus is broken and I will set it on the right course."

"Yes, I'm sure that with you, the righteous assassin who kills people who can't fight back, in charge, things will run much smoother. I mean, I'm sure crimes committed by senior citizens will be at an all time low!"

"That's enough!" Riven swung her fist aiming for Yasuo's side.

Yasuo didn't bother trying to evade the hit and grunted in pain as Riven's fist caught him in the ribs, making him stumble a few feet before righting himself. "Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Yasuo shrugged off the hit and continued to walk backwards in front of her, grinning, "We're finally getting to know each other!" Riven just rolled her eyes and picked up her pace, just trying to annoy him. However, as she tried to make her way past Yasuo but was abruptly halted by arm being extended in her path, blocking her, "Ah ah ah! Nope! We're not finished yet Riven."

"You may be enjoying your little game of twenty questions, but I'm done with this!" Riven proceeded to shove Yasuo's arm out of her way and keep marching.

Yasuo let her past with a smirk but turned to follow her, swiping his hand to the side. At his command, a small gust of wind flew at Riven's legs, making her stumble back. Yasuo reached out and grabbed onto her arm, steadying her but not letting go. "Woah there, Riven. We wouldn't want you to fall, would we?" He chuckled, enjoying her obvious annoyance.

"Get off me creep!" Riven growled angrily as she pushed Yasuo away from her and continued to storm forward.

Yasuo smirked and increased his speed to keep up with Riven as she moved. "That's okay Riven, I just won't catch you next time!" Yasuo knew how childish he was acting but he had to admit, it was rather fun to be this petty with Riven, the girl who ruined his life. Although he had decided that she was not worthy of death for her crimes, she did deserve some sort of punishment. Even beyond the obvious issue of killing his elder and framing him, she had lead him on a wild goose chase through most of the world and by proxy, caused the death of his brother and countless other people! In addition, her choices nearly lead to the rise of a monster in the Shadow Isles known as Thresh. Thresh was a being made up of souls and for each soul he had, he gained power. During Yasuo's previous journey, he had inadvertently begun collecting souls which he would eventually feed to Thresh. Riven had helped him by accidentally becoming bait, luring Yasuo to what probably should have been his demise. However, because of the heroics of Jax, Yasuo was able to defeat Thresh narrowly, preventing him from becoming the most powerful creature on the planet, and escape with Riven.

He had done his best to ensure that Riven knew he was not going to kill her and suggested that he might want to ask her some questions but as they arrived back in Demacia, Riven fled, leaving Yasuo empty handed and without the closure that he desperately wanted. Yasuo was still better over that fact.

"I'd rather have it that way!" Riven snapped back without so much as glancing in his general direction. "I don't need you to catch me when I fall." Riven was vehement not to require help from Yasuo. All that she knew of him was that he was a hardened, drunken killer who was willing to slaughter any and all in his path to achieve his goals. She had seen him kill people, one of which being her only friend in the world after fleeing Noxus. She couldn't just let him walk all over her. She had the moral high ground! But despite fighting back, in the back of her mind she knew that Yasuo was the only way she would be able to make it to the Shadow Isles. If nothing else, she needed whatever help Prince Jarvan could give and without Yasuo, there was little chance of that happening. She had endured so much in the past five years; the frivolous remarks of a drunkard would not cause her to waver from her mission. Or at least she hoped that was the case.

* * *

Authors notes: Thanks for reading chapter three! So I think we'll stick with this new format for a little while. These smaller chapters are a lot more manageable for us and it makes it a lot easier to keep the quality as high as possible.

Next up, see where Zed and Syndra's journey will take them as they return to Zed's clan of shadow ninjas and what happens when Riven and Yasuo arrive in Demiacia and meet up with Prince Jarvan.

If you haven't read The Unforgiven, please let me know if there is anything I can clarify for you in future chapters or author's notes. If you ask a question, I promise I will answer it. I want to make sure that the story is as enjoyable as possible even if you didn't read the original and it's relatively difficult to make everything easily understandable because well, I already know what happens in The Unforgiven so I don't have the same questions running through my mind as a new reader.

Anyway, let me know what you think and if you have any questions and I hope to see you next time.


	5. A Favor from the Prince

Zed and Syndra walked silently side-by-side around the hills south of Zaun. However, Zed's mind was a long way away. He was picturing a temple in Ionia where all of his ninjas eagerly awaited his return. It was a small temple across the island of Ionia from Shen's that was most easily recognizable for the fact that it had clearly been abandoned by whoever was there long ago. It had vines growing through the windows and doors and cracks running through every wall. In fact, the place looked like it was about to collapse and must have been condemned quite a while back as unsafe for habitation. Of course, ninjas don't cause much of a disturbance wherever they go, so the temple suited them nicely. Zed had about a hundred ninjas working for him and it was from this set of warriors that he chose the group that fell to Akali. Zed would have to bare that news eventually to them, but tonight was a night of victory. He wanted to give them a speech, a surge of motivation to prove that their days of being second class to the Kinkou were over.

As Syndra walked, she twirled twin orbs between her fingers. She watched them quietly as she moved, maneuvering them expertly one after the other. Zed watched her work quietly. He actually enjoyed watching her practice her control over her orbs and with two orbs this small, it was actually quite difficult for her to weave them in between her fingers without touching them. Syndra was very talented, however, and proved capable, her eyes glowing a luminescent purple hue as she channeled the arcane power with which she had been born. Finally, Zed broke the silence. "Syndra?"

She looked up and the color of her eyes faded back to their normal brown, "Yes?"

Zed carefully looked for the words he wanted to convey to her and eventually settled that he should just come straight out with it. "I want to take down the remnants of Shen's order tomorrow night."

Syndra blinked confusedly a few times, "The Ionian one? In Ionia?" Zed nodded. "How? I mean, that's a thousand miles away!"

"Well," Zed started hopefully, "I can teleport through shadows but I need to see them and feel them in order to manipulate them, as you know. I was hoping that perhaps if you used your magic to… I don't know… connect me to a shadow in Ionia?"

Syndra shook her head, "Zed that's not my field, you know that. I'm an energy mage with some telekinetic powers but you're talking about something else entirely."

"But it has to be tomorrow!" Zed growled, angrily stomping his foot and glaring at Syndra.

Syndra was taken aback by the sudden outburst and looked Zed over carefully, "Why?"

"Because," Zed explained, his anger evident on his face. "I feel a draw back to that temple. I can't explain it. I just feel like that is where I need to be. There is something about that place…" Zed's fingers twitched as they traced over his mask hanging on his belt. He hated letting Syndra see him angry or violent. He liked to think that if he only acted that way with the mask on, she would maybe not associate his face with the voice that preached his words. That way, when he took off the mask, she'd only look upon the face of a kind man, not a monster.

"We've never tried anything like that before…" Syndra pondered.

"I'm just asking you to try," Zed prodded, hoping that she would agree to help him sate this inexplicable urge to get back to the place he left in flames five years ago, not as a student but as a conqueror.

Syndra nodded and went back to playing with the orbs, "I'll try, but no promises. I'm rusty with my utility magic. With you around, it's like I only get to practice my fighting."

Zed grinned, "Alright, let's try." He stopped at the top of one of the small hills and grabbed Syndra's hands. "Focus and try to amplify my senses. Try to let me see a shadow in Ionia."

Syndra held on tight to Zed's hands and closed her eyes, "I'll have to picture someplace I know and once I do, you'll hopefully see a portal in your mind, like a door to cross over. If I can open it at all, I'll only be able to keep it open for a moment so you need to grab onto a shadow right away. Understand?"

Zed closed his eyes, his heart racing, "I understand."

"Then here… we… go," Syndra muttered as if giving a countdown.

* * *

"So Riven, see that tower in the middle of the city?" Yasuo asked, pointing at the spiral tower that marked the center of the city of Demacia. The tower stretched what must have been twenty or twenty-five stories into the sky, much higher than any other building in the beautiful city. The tower was a long way away in the bronze city, but it was easily visible from anywhere.

"Yeah, what of it? Is that where we will find Jarvan IV?"

Yasuo nodded, "He lives at the very top." He took a few steps towards it before turning back to make a note, "The prince and I are friends so no matter what he says, even if it's against Noxus or you or whatever, just let me do the talking. He's a nice guy but I don't want you wrecking things with him because you're so prideful."

Riven sighed, "Understood, let's just get through this."

Yasuo grinned and lead the way, "Who knows, it could be fun! I mean, lavish suite with a view of the city, company of the prince, free food, what's not to like?"

Yasuo noticed Riven's remaining frustration and tugged his hat down over his eyes to hide his embarrassment as he said, "Look, Riven, I'm sorry for messing with you when we were on the road. I know I was being a jerk but..." Yasuo's voice trailed off. He was not used to apologizing. In fact, usually everyone who deserved an apology from him ended up dead before Yasuo could go through with saying sorry. It was different this time. He was working with Riven now and probably shouldn't upset her for extended periods of time unless he fancied failure and constant bickering.

Riven looked back to Yasuo, surprised at his ability to be kind, "Thank you for the apology. I accept it."

Yasuo smirked and kept walking, "Don't get used to it." With a grin he performed the same wind trick he had earlier and blew a gust at Riven's legs, making her stumble. Riven caught herself and stopped for a moment to regain her composure, grumbling her annoyance under her breath.

Chuckling, Yasuo looked back over his shoulder at her, "You know Riven, I could show you some more of the wind technique if you want. You know, parts of it that don't just lop off limbs?"

Yasuo shrugged, "Maybe it will help you fight, maybe it will give me something to do. I've never really taught anyone before. Back in Ionia, I surpassed my master's abilities with the technique in about a month. Nobody seems to be much good at it anymore. Maybe you can be. After all, you learned that slicing move pretty quickly for the one mission."

Riven pondered for a moment, "Well I suppose it could be quite useful. Sure, I'll give it a shot."

"Sort of funny actually," Yasuo mused, "You started by learning how to cut people up and never learned what I was taught first."

"I could assume the basics involve maneuvers along the lines of stabs and sweeping slashing to deter an opponent's ability to advance."

Yasuo laughed and clapped a hand on Riven's shoulder, "No, no, no. You're such a Noxian! The first thing they taught us wasn't how to fight. It was how to blow the blossoms and leaves off of the trees, a gentle breeze."

Riven tilted her head, somewhat confused as to why such a powerful enhancement to one's battle capabilities began with something as mundane as moving leaves. "I guess that would help in improving a user's control over the wind..."

"Riven, the wind isn't a weapon. Sure you can use it as one if you need to, but the wind itself is peaceful in nature. That's why it doesn't work as well when you swing your sword like you're cutting down a tree. You have to be swift and precise. Then the wind will do what you want."

"Wow, you actually can sound knowledgeable. You've been nothing but an abrasive drunk this whole time, yet when you talk about your art you're refined and well versed. I'm impressed."

Again, Yasuo smirked, "Dear, whatever artist was once inside me has long since been killed off. I'll show you what I know, but we both know that I'm teaching you how to fight, not how to use it as art."

With that, the duo made their way to the spiral tower and ignored the guards. Many of them noticed and recognized Yasuo and knew not to stop him, but Riven was not so lucky. With the Noxian inscription easily visible on the sword, both Yasuo and Riven were forced to push their way through and yell over the crowd, "We're going to see the prince, we're friendly! Stop it!"

Eventually it got to the point where Yasuo blasted wind at anyone who dared approach them. Riven didn't much like it and apologized to the guards who were just doing their job but she had to admit, it was an effective method of clearing the way.

At the top, Yasuo pushed aside the guard at the door, slamming him into a wall and walked confidently into the prince's throne room, a grin on his face. When the Jarvan saw Yasuo come in, he immediately stood from his throne and came to greet him. "Yasuo! It's so nice to see you again! Is everything alright? You should have told me you were coming."

When the greetings were done, Jarvan turned to look at Riven who was standing quietly behind Yasuo, not making eye contact. "Who's this Yasuo?"

"Don't you remember?" Yasuo asked, "That's Riven, the girl I was chasing way back then. You know, that girl who ran away from the kind and generous care you offered after the Shadow Isles incident?"

Then, Yasuo recanted the story of the dead ninjas in Zaun and why he and Riven were working together. "So can you help us?" He finished.

Jarvan pondered for a moment, scratching his chin but then smiled, "Of course. I can lend you a boat easily! In fact, I'll give you a prototype that we just received. It has a new navigator that was cooked up by some scientist in Piltover. They call it a Global Positioning System. It will tell you where you are and help you get where you are going."

Jarvan laughed, "You are undoubtedly in my debt. Do you have any idea how much money I've spent on you?"

Then the prince turned to the quiet Noxian in the room. "You haven't said a word since you got here! Why are you being so quiet Riven?"

"Umm... well, I haven't really much to say only than thank you for your kindness, especially towards one who is not only a stranger, but an enemy in your land." Riven bowed, "I am truly grateful."

Yasuo shrugged and glanced at Riven, "I don't know if we're friends. It's more of a working relationship. She is helpful."

Yasuo paused a second before adding, "Actually, she knows a little of the wind technique so I'm going to teach her some more. You might as well just call her my student." Yasuo looked at Riven with a joking grin on his face and burst out laughing.

Riven's faced turned red, embarrassed to be referred to as someone subordinate to Yasuo, "P-please I was just accepting your offer and besides when it comes to fighting I'm obviously the better trained. If anything I should be teaching you how to fight!"

"Right, I don't know why, but I thought Draven's arrogance was unique. I guess it's just all Noxians."

Jarvan took a decisive step forward between Yasuo and Riven and placed a warm hand on each's shoulder. "Just calm down you two. Focus on the goal, not each other. Shadow Isles, right?"

"Right," Yasuo agreed, "Boat ready tomorrow morning at dawn Jarvan?" Jarvan nodded to which Yasuo replied, "Thanks again, my friend. I'll see you when we get back." With that, Yasuo left the room at a fast walk, waving for Riven to follow him. He ran his way down the steps and out onto the street where he bee lined straight for the nearest inn with a bar. Riven saw him enter the bar just as she reached the bottom of the steps and followed him in. As she entered she saw Yasuo already ordering a drink.

"You seriously want to go back to the Shadow Isles sober?" Yasuo questioned.

Riven shrugged, "Damn, you've got a point. For once."

"I made lots of good points!" Yasuo defended himself, grinning as he slid a drink to his companion, "You're just too busy being moral and righteous to notice."

"Me?" Yasuo asked, feigning surprise and dejection, "Never!" He smirked and raised his glass to Riven, "To partnership... and luck. We'll need that, too."

Riven raised her glass in agreement, "To hell in Valoran and a future we can be proud of." She downed the drink with a gulp. As the alcohol burned her throat on the way down, she wondered what nightmares awaited her in the Shadow Isles.

* * *

Authors notes: An all-nighter culminated in this chapter's completion haha. Diovolo and I were up writing this until about 5 AM and we quite like what we can do here, especially with Yasuo and Riven. That's a very complex and unique relationship and I think we're going to have a lot of fun fleshing out their individual characters as well as their bond. We honestly don't know if this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship or not because of the way we write these conversations. Essentially, we just try to make them as natural as possible and if natural ends in a fight, so be it.

Next time on Legacy of the Shadows: Zed and Syndra speak with the shadow ninjas and formulate their plan to assault on the Kinkou warriors and end their order perminantly while Yasuo and Riven pursue their path to the Shadow Isles in hopes of finding answers as to who the dark clad ninjas are and why they were in Zaun.


	6. Return to the Shadows

Zed held tight to Syndra and pulled her with him as he switched places with a shadow, instantly transporting the both of them to Ionia. He had barely managed to grab hold of a shadow through the portal Syndra had mustered. The pair fell to the ground with a thud in the cold, cracked temple where Zed and his ninjas trained. The sound of metal scratching rock sounded through the quiet building as Zed rolled over onto his side and propped himself up to look at Syndra, making sure she wasn't hurt after the interaction with the shadows.

Syndra looked at Zed's face, seeing concern in his eyes and smiling as she breathed deeply. That was not any kind of magic that Syndra performed often and even attempting it tired her out immensely. Syndra previously described magic to Zed as a muscle. Without regular use, it becomes more difficult to do when you need it. There were also magical elements that mages were just naturally more gifted with than others. For example, Syndra was particularly gifted with dark energy and telekinetics. She preferred to combine the two by amassing dark purple orbs out of energy magic and moving them with telekinesis. She was certainly not well practiced at creating a rift between Ionia and Zaun through which Zed could interact with a shadow..

"You okay Syndra? The shadow didn't do anything to you did it?" Zed was worried as he looked over Syndra for cuts or bruises. Despite his best efforts, he tended to weaponize any shadow he interacted with. Naturally, he would shape and mold his shadows into tactical advantages in fights and when not properly focused, he could do the same while out of combat. When Zed interacted with a shadow in the way he had to in order to switch places with it, the shadow had to take on the form of Zed himself, and that included functioning weapons. The combination of Zed's violent control of shadows and the fact that he knew there were actual knives in the dark mass with which he just swapped places worried him.

Syndra reached over and stroked Zed's cheek, "I'm fine, Zed. I'm just tired. Don't worry."

Zed smiled as he looked up at the temple around them. It appeared to be abandoned, but he knew better. This temple was actually filled with the Order of the Shadow, Zed's private army of ninjas. Zed stood and helped Syndra to her feet, looking out over the ruins. "My friends, I have returned, come out!"

With that, through doors and hallways flooded masses of warriors. The master of the order grinned, quickly put his mask on and led Syndra to the top of the stairs inside the temple to the altar, as his ninjas took their places below him. It only took a few moments before the temple looked quite full with hushed chatter echoing off the walls.

"My pupils, my warriors, my friends," Zed started, looking out over the crowd of ninjas, all clad in various versions of Zed's own armor. They all wore gray and red, but some had swords or axes rather than wrist blades. Some had short capes or bandanas, as well. The only thing that was absolutely certain was that none of them had a mask like Zed's. "We have come quite a long way together. It was five years ago that we left that temple in flames and chose to blaze our own path together. We chose freedom, we chose power, we chose absolution! We will not waver when the time comes to strike! We will not have mercy for the wicked! We will not let the light shine and continue to blight this wretched world! Together, my brave soldiers, we will bring about a new world order; one without the Kinkou and one without the tyranny of the Eye of Twilight!"

All of a sudden, a hush fell over the group of ninjas, as they listened closely to what came next. Zed looked over to Syndra, who nodded encouragingly, "My beautiful queen and I have brought good news. Shen, the last Eye of Twilight is dead! He had no heir, which means we will never be burdened by their scum again!" For a moment, the group stood in utter silence before a cheer broke out over the crowd and applause sounded through small temple.

"Now, now!" Zed called, quieting the ninjas, "We will march tonight on the Kinkou temple and scrub their kind from this world! Who is with me? Who is willing to risk their life to reclaim the temple in the name of the future- our future?! Who is wants to end the era of balance and bring about a glorious new age of order?! With Queen Syndra by my side, we will bring about a future with no war, no conflict, and no destruction! Who is with me?!" Immediately, the ninjas at the foot of the steps yelled and cheered, clapping and calling out in agreement and excitement! With that, Zed turned to Syndra with a grin on his face, pulling off his mask and pulling her in for a hug. Syndra wrapped her arms around Zed and smiled, closing her eyes and relishing the sound of their new future.

* * *

The following morning, Yasuo and Riven emerged onto the docks to find a boat prepped and ready for them. One of Jarvan's servants stood at the end of the rickety wooden dock waiting for them. Together, the pair walked to meet him. Yasuo took particular reverence with this area. It was here where he had his final confrontation with his brother Yone, which culminated in the latter's death. That memory still pained Yasuo and he looked away from the place where he vividly remembered striking his brother down. In doing so, he turned his glace over at the harbormaster's box where the old man looked through his thick lenses at Yasuo, a man he recognized. They had only spoken once but Yasuo remembered the harbormaster too, and nodded as he passed.

Riven looked over at Yasuo as they drew near to the servant and noticed his shudder and nervous glancing. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine Riven," Yasuo replied curtly as he continued on. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Riven raised her hands defensively, "I was just asking, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. Just let it go," he muttered as he came to a halt in front of the servant, dressed in Demacian blue and yellow. "Hello, is this the boat?"

He nodded, "Yes sir, this is the boat Prince Jarvan ordered us to give to you. Can I just have your names to confirm that you are who I'm supposed to give this to?"

"Yeah, Yasuo and Riven," Riven replied with a smile.

Quickly, the servant checked a note in his pocked and then smiled at the two, "Perfect, you know how to sail it, I assume?"

"Yeah," Yasuo confirmed, "I can sail it." After several years of off and on sailing with his friend, Sarah near Bilgewater, Yasuo had become quite adept at naval navigation and steering. With just a glance at the schooner before him, Yasuo knew that he would easily be able to pilot it. "Can you just tell us about this navigator we're supposed to use?"

"Ah yes!" the man spoke up, "Absolutely. Here it is." He handed Yasuo a little box with a grid on it. It had two Xs and a blinking dot on it. The Ionian stared confusedly at the technology, never having seen anything like it before. "Just got these last week! See?" he asked, pointing at the dot which was placed directly next to one of the Xs. "That is where we are, the X. And the dot is the boat! You just need to steer it so that to dot goes to the other X, okay?"

Yasuo nodded, "Sounds simple enough. Just go from one X to the other."

"Just like that! Now I've got to run! Have a nice trip!" He shouted as he dashed off the dock.

"Oh, we won't," Riven chuckled to herself, watching him go.

"Ready Riven?" Yasuo asked, standing aside for her to board the boat, his focus falling back on the spot on the dock where his brother had died.

"Yes, I am," Riven agreed, moving past him and pulling him after her by the sleeve onto the boat. She looked straight into his eyes and spoke sternly. "Look, clearly something is going on and you don't have to tell me, but I need to know you can focus, okay?"

Yasuo nodded and pushed her hand away from his arm. "I can handle myself. Just worry about yourself, okay?" With that, Yasuo made his preparations and together, they set sail.

The trip was long but both travelers actually enjoyed the company of the other after a while. Yasuo told Riven stories about growing up in Ionia and offered more details on what wind training was like. Riven listened carefully and hung on every word, privately laughing at how wise the words on the wind technique sounded, despite coming out of the mouth of a drunk.

Riven returned the favor with her own stories about the brutal Noxian training she underwent from the age of four. Yasuo was astonished to hear about some of the brutal beatings and horrible training that the woman he was just getting to know must have seen and felt.

But after a few hours, the conversation died out and Yauso was left to silently steer the boat forward as Riven stood to the side, watching the fog grow steadily thicker around them.

A few more hours passed before Yasuo spoke up, "Riven, you want to take over for a few minutes?" Yasuo inquired, offering up the steering to Riven and stepping away.

"Sure, I guess." Riven shrugged, moving over and grabbing the large wooden wheel firmly in her hands and taking the Ionian's place.

"Good," Yasuo nodded, stepping back and pulling out a half empty bottle of whiskey and taking a swig. "Just keep it straight. On this course, we'll end up right near where I landed last time, which I think is the same as where you landed."

He then raised the bottle and held it out to Riven, "You want a drink?"

"No, thanks. One of us needs to stay sober; gods know you won't." She almost wanted to laugh but then remembered that it was actually true, which was sort of sad if she was being honest with herself.

Yasuo however, laughed loudly and leaned back on the edge of the boat, stretching his arms out and bringing them back in for another drink, "You're learning. Good for you, but I still think you're nuts." Riven sighed, "Whatever. Fog's rolling in, and the navigator says we should be hitting shore any moment now."

"What do you think we're looking for when we get there?" Yasuo wondered. Having only been there once, he didn't know the Shadow Isles well at all.

"I think we can find some good information on an old friend of ours," Riven replied, a sly grin curling at her lip as she tried to make Yasuo guess who she was thinking of.

"And who would that be? I killed Thresh and we have no actual friends over here." Yasuo avoided making the comment that he was about to make, 'you have no actual friends.' No, Riven didn't deserve that right now, he thought.

"A man who played a key role in Thresh's schemes." Riven looked ahead into the thick mist, with memories of the terrible island flooding back to her. "Yorick..."

"Oh good," Yasuo groaned, "The hunchback of the dead. He stalked me for months, you know? Not his biggest fan."

"You and I both know he's the only person we're going to be able to squeeze any information from," Riven told him, keeping her eyes peeled for land in the thick fog.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," he sighed, looking forward into the mist with Riven and taking another gulp, nearly draining the bottle. "Didn't that coward run as soon as I saw you come out of the jungle?" He laughed as he remembered the way Yorick repeatedly ran from confrontation, "I guess a reunion wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I can introduce him to some of my new tricks."

"New tricks?" Riven asked, raising an eyebrow at the comment.

"Of course! Did you think I'd learn nothing from five years as a wandering vigilante?" In fact, Yasuo had picked up a few new tricks, particularly new wind abilities! After becoming empowered by Thresh's souls, a slight hunger was triggered in Yasuo to gain back the powers that Thresh had drained it from him. Through hard work, Yasuo was able to achieve nearly the same level of power, and some new abilities he had never been capable of before.

"I thought you would have just sloshed around from bar to bar," Riven teased.

"Well that too," Yasuo said with a wink, finishing his whiskey and tossing the bottle over the side of the boat into the water.

"Ugh, Yasuo!" Riven growled, "Was it really necessary to throw your bottle into the water?"

"Well sure! Why not? Worst case scenario, I killed some sort of demented ghost fish. Win-win, right?" Yasuo smirked and stepped towards the bow of the boat and looked intently into the fog. "That's it!" He exclaimed, "Land! I see it!"

The excited feeling was quickly quelled by an overwhelming sense of dread that came with these horrible islands. Again, Yasuo and Riven were returning to the largest island of the small archipelago. It featured a long beach that lead the way up to a dark, thick jungle, teeming with vines and strange sounds and creatures that haunted the shrouded path.

"So you think Yorick is here?" Yasuo asked as the boat slid to a halt on the sand.

Riven nodded in response and silently stepped off onto the silent shore, a glint of green on her sword and nothing but focus on her face. "Let's go, Yasuo."

* * *

Author's notes: Thanks for reading another chapter of Legacy of the Shadow! I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought!

Review Question: Ryder, there you are again! I've never seen anyone try so hard to poke holes in a story! Haha You, my friend, are relentless. What is this, the third or fourth time you've done this with one of my stories? So again, I have an answer for you. You asked why Yasuo, an Ionian, does not know about Zed and his ninjas because they, too, are Ionians. The answer is this: Zed and his ninjas are a little-known offshoot of an already secret organization, the Kinkou. Both organizations are secret and originate from the far side of Ionia, quite a long way from where Yasuo was raised. (So they're not posting wanted ads and current roster lists in Yasuo's town square) In addition, Yasuo might have heard of the Kinkou after the temple burned 5 years ago but he had already fled Ionia in pursuit of Riven just before that occurred. Even if he was there for the destruction of the temple, there is no way he would have heard of Zed, only the Kinkou. Ionia is a big place, not everyone knows each other. But honestly man, thanks for the reviews. It's fun to have people following along so closely and I appreciate each one. I hope you enjoy what's up next!

Next time on Legacy of the Shadow: Zed and Syndra finish their preparations and begin their assault on the Kinkou temple while Yasuo and Riven try to find and confront Yorick for answers.

Catch ya next time


	7. Knowing the Enemy

Shortly after his speech, Zed once again rebuckled his wrist blades and checked to make sure the shuriken holsters were full. His nervous heartbeat pounded harder than was normal. Although he would never show a sign to those around him, including Syndra, he admitted to himself that he was in for quite a fight. The battle ahead was likely going to be as difficult as his confrontation with Shen. Although none of the remaining warriors possessed Shen's skill, there were several who should be feared, namely Akali. She and her ninjas held nearly double the numbers that Zed had at his disposal. His soldiers trained specifically to fight against Kinkous over the last few years, but there was no doubt that his numbers would be thinned by the end. However, Zed had a plan that hopefully would leave him with many soldiers to spare. He would likely need them.

Syndra paced around the room in back of him, once again twirling her miniature orbs between her fingers like marbles. She glanced over at Zed and noticed his hunched shoulders and feverish checking and rechecking of his weapons. She could tell, even though he did not admit it, that he was nervous. She could understand that, but then, what had she to fear? She had personally fought off more soldiers on her own than the entirety of the Kinkou Order!

A long time ago when she fled Ionia, a legion of Ionian soldiers followed her and eventually forced her to do battle. She decimated them. Although she didn't want to, the Ionians had chased her to the coast and attempted to execute the mage, thinking her to be the newest corrupt, dark mage of the land. In slaughtering them, Syndra knew she proved them right, but she didn't want to be evil! She never wished them harm! She simply put herself ahead of them. She viewed her own survival as more important. The soldiers she fought were not even a challenge. They were sloppy and ill-equipped to deal with her onslaught of magic. They never stood a chance.

However, Syndra considered as she paced, the Kinkou are very well trained and their ki senses might make them less susceptible to her magic. Heightened reflexes can definitely make a difference when in the split second between life and death. Syndra started to feel slightly nervous, as well.

"Ready?" She asked, looking over to Zed who was tightening his straps for the fifth time.

Zed fussed with the buckle for a moment and then turned, "Yes, I'm ready to end them. Let's get the others."

Syndra nodded and together they walked out to greet the ninjas who were out and ready in the center of the temple. Zed again climbed the stairs to the altar and gazed out over the sea of grey and red. "Let us begin."

* * *

Riven and Yasuo trudged up the beach side by side, swords in hands as the fog bore down on them from above like a veil over the island. Each had a mental image of what they were looking for. Yorick was a relatively short man with a huge hunchback. He wore green and brown rags and his favored choice of weapon was a shovel. However, most noticeably, he wore a lamp over his head that hung and lit the way wherever he went. Back in the days when Yorick was following him, Yasuo was able to spot him in the distance a few times by the lantern.

Yasuo tugged his tattered old cape around himself and gripped his sword tightly in its sheath, ready to unleash it at a moment's notice. Riven didn't bother with a sheath. She held her sword in hand, the runes on it glowing softly, causing the appearance of a gentle aura around it in the fog. "Oh the fond memories…" Yasuo sighed sarcastically.

Riven smiled and took the lead as they reached the jungle, using the blade to light the way in. "Good times huh? You and I must recall them differently." Riven was haunted by the islands upon which she stood now. Her brief time living here, being tormented by evil things and monsters of nature she could not speak of had changed her. This place stuck with her long after she left in her nightmares and in her resolve to ensure the world be as much the polar opposite of the Shadow Isles as possible. But actually, they had imparted a sort of strength to her. It is hard to be afraid of anything when you have experienced the source of fear itself. Having spent several days in this jungle before, nothing back on the mainland scared her in the slightest. Just two weeks after leaving the Shadow Isles, she marched right into Noxus to threaten Grand General Swain and be formally exiled from the city state. In a way Riven had found something very valuable in this dark, desolate place: her courage.

Riven's fingers started to tingle in the cold air as they entered the cover of the jungle. There was no sign of life anywhere and she started to wonder if they would be able to find Yorick at all. However, three hours into wandering the jungle in large circles, her worries were put to rest by the faint glow of a lantern.

Yasuo put his fingers to his lips and gestured for Riven to go around the front while he flanked Yorick from behind. "No tricks this time," Yasuo whispered. Riven nodded and made her way around to some shrubbery just to the right of where Yorick stood, as Yasuo moved around back to his left.

"Well hello there Yorick," Yasuo sneered, swiftly sliding his blade across the neck of the hunchback.

Yorick was very calm in the situation, dropping his shovel and raising his hands but, as he did, a burst of red smoke blasted out of thin air and with it came a ghoul that Yasuo was all too familiar with. With swift speed, Riven dispatched the new enemy, decapitating it in a single move of her weapon. As Yorick stared in horror at his little monster's body gently floating its way to the dirt in two pieces, he came to realize the situation he was in.

"So you're here for revenge?" He gulped, fear sweeping over him.

"Shhh!" Yasuo soothed, "You have no idea why we're here." Yorick seemed to relax slightly as Yasuo removed his blade from his throat, but was immediately caught off guard by the firm kick the Ionian planted in his back to follow. Yorick crumpled to the ground, his lantern coming unhinged and rolling a few feet away before coming to a stop. "We're here for answers, you slime."

Riven nodded and stepped up her sword, illuminating her figure in an incandescent green. "Do you know anything about ninjas?"

Yorick's breathing stopped for a moment and his eyes grew wide. "N-ninjas?"

Yasuo smirked, "See? It's that kind of response that leads me to think you do know something." He pointed his sword at Yorick's face, letting the tip of the sharp weapon linger mere centimeters from his nose.

"Believe it or not," Yorick spoke slowly, "We are on the same side when it comes to the ninjas." He adjusted himself into a sitting position against a tree and Yasuo followed closely with his sword, not giving him an inch of breathing room.

Riven laughed, "No, I do not fathom that you and I could be allied. This one is trouble enough," she pointed out, gesturing to Yasuo.

"No, no! I know who the one leading these ninjas is: Thresh… Thresh was anticipating this leader's rise," Yorick managed, stumbling over his words, his nervousness evident on his face.

Yasuo's inquisitive expression turned to one of total loathing, the wind starting to pick up around them. "Talk fast, you've got limited words left as it is. Who is he and why did Thresh know about him?"

"Alright! Alright!" Yorick pleaded, pressing himself back against the tree. "His name is Zed and he is the reason for everything that happened to you: why Thresh took a liking to you, why you collected souls for him, why everything ended the way it did five years ago. Zed is the key to everything and I will tell you why..."

* * *

Author's notes: Well this was a short one but I hope you feel sufficiently teased for what comes next. These last few days I've mostly taken as a break from writing and I may or may not extend that break a little bit. The next chapter holds contents such that it cannot be written briefly without horribly butchering the scenes which obviously I am not going to do. This means that the next chapter may take a little longer to come out. I would put my estimate for 3-7 days rather than 3-5 like normal.

Next up: Zed and Syndra actually battle for control of the Kinkou temple and Riven and Yasuo get to the bottom of why Zed is and has always been so important.

See ya next time


	8. Fall of the Kinkou

About three hundred yards from the Kinkou temple, Zed held up his hand, signaling his disciples to stop in his wake. This was a place they were all familiar with, a place they left in ruin five years ago when they fled from the tyranny of balance and ventured off on their own to seek enlightenment and power. Zed remembered well that about a hundred yards away through the brambles and bushes of the Ionian jungle, was the first guard outpost.

The guard outposts of the Kinkou temple were laid out in three rings that circled the temple itself. In each ring were eight outposts laid out around the big loop. So this meant if Zed and his soldiers wanted to get through, they would only have to cut a single path by taking out three outposts rather than all of them. Each individual outpost would have but a single Kinkou ninja standing guard as the rest of them resided within the temple. Zed was fully aware that Akali would be planning for him and his plan was simple- attack. The Order of the Shadow was, combat-wise, generally superior to that of the Kinkous. This was due to the fact that they had been trained to fight as a Kinkou before they left the order and became their own entity to be trained in the fighting style of the shadow technique.

Zed ensured that each member of his order was a master of the forms and stances, taught to him by the shadows after he was joined with them. Although Zed remained the only member of the order with living shadows within him and the only member capable of manipulating shadows, all members knew the aggressive and deceptive fighting style.

Zed glanced back at his ninjas before edging on alone towards the first outpost. In the distance he spotted it. A dim light of an oil lamp flickered off of the green leaves that hung from the trees. There, the guard appeared to be meditating, sitting down with his legs crossed and his head bowed. This worried Zed. Since the Kinkous were well trained with Ki, the meditation while on guard duty was likely being used to sense passers by without having to actually see them. If Zed got too close to this guard, he would sound the alarm and Zed's army would have to battle through two hundred yards of jungle to even reach the temple, let alone take it over. The master of shadows grumbled as he tried to figure a good way around this.

Just a few steps behind Zed, Syndra levitated herself silently, floating her black magic orbs around herself, ready to launch them at anyone who came at her. She was almost as tense as Zed going into this. From what she remembered of Akali, this was not going to be an easy fight. However, before she could worry too much she noticed Zed roll his shoulders back, stretching and getting ready for something. "Zed," she whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Testing something," Zed hissed back.

"What?"

Zed chuckled softly, "Do you think I can make my double throw a shuriken?"

Syndra grinned, realizing what he was suggesting. "Give it a go. If not, I can always crush him."

Zed nodded and made a pushing movement with his arms. As he did a darks whisp emerged from his body, gliding shapelessly towards the outpost and stopping ten feet to the right of the Kinkou who still sat with his eyes shut and his head down. Clearly, he could not use his ki to sense the shadow. Zed brought his arms back in and instantly, the shadow near the outpost carved itself into a perfect representation of Zed. Zed reached back for a shuriken from his back. As he did, the shadow did the same. The ninja smiled under his mask as he threw it hard towards the Kinkou warrior. Zed's own Shuriken landed on the ground about half way between himself and the meditating soldier but the shadow's on the other hand, had lodged itself firmly in the Kinkou's head, silently dropping him to the ground, dead.

"Good job Zed!" Syndra encouraged, quickly gliding past him and on to the outpost. The simple stone building was quickly behind the majority of the group as they neared the second outpost. This one was, again, a stone building with an oil lamp lighting it, but it was different. This one was twenty feet tall and appeared to have a guard at the top surveying the area, about a hundred yards from the temple. This time it was Syndra's turn. She gave a grin to Zed, ignoring the pang of fear in her heart as she rose up into the air with her dark orbs. She levitated herself higher and higher until she looked down on the lookout from a distance. Slowly she moved herself closer and closer until she was only about thirty feet away, concealed by the cover of darkness and the fact that this ninja was scanning the ground, not the sky above him. Syndra floated ever closer and extended a pale arm, directing one of her orbs to float behind the ninja. Then, with a swift flick of her wrist, the orb slammed into the back of the Kinkou, sending him off the top of the perch and crashing down towards where Zed was waiting. Before the soldier could cry out, Zed launched a shadow up to meet him, the dark wrist blades cutting deeply into his neck, silencing his voice. Nobody would hear that guard.

At last, they were on to the last ring of outposts. Unfortunately, this one was much, much tougher for Zed to think through. As they drew near and looked upon what they had to get past, Zed and Syndra were unsure of how to proceed. This ring had clearly been set up just for Zed because it was not lit by a single oil lamp like the others, but hundreds. Lamps surrounded the entire base of the temple, lighting it up as if it were high noon. There were no shadows anywhere on the base of the huge stone building.

"Well," Zed started, "I suppose this is where our clever thinking ends and the fighting begins." Syndra nodded in agreement so Zed turned back to face his troops, who were came to a halt behind him in rows of five across, extending twenty rows back. Zed's voice was barely a hiss as he instructed, "This is it, my allies. This is where you and I will show the Kinkou just who we are! Let us take this temple for our own! As you fight, be sure to extinguish as much light as possible. You are far better trained to fight in the cover of darkness than they are. They may have ki senses, but you have the shadows on your side. Remember that."

Without a further word, Zed turned and strode confidently onto the open of the lamp lit stone walkway that surrounded the temple. Immediately there was a loud ringing noise. They had been detected. Knowing it was no use to sneak anymore, the rest of the ninjas and Syndra all flooded onto the cobblestone behind Zed. They waited for a moment until the ringing of the alarm bell ceased and a familiar green armored brunette appeared in the arched doorway of the temple, carrying her two signature kamas.

"Akali," Zed called, "I don't want to kill you and neither does Syndra. Surrender to us and you and your soldiers will be spared."

Akali smirked, "You are a threat to all balance. You will go no further, Zed. See reason."

"The only thing I see is a coward hiding in her temple, avoiding the fact that balance is for the weak, those who are not brave enough to find the truth!"

At this time, Akali's ninjas were starting to line the top of the temple with bows and the base with daggers and shurikens. The Order of the Shadow stood its ground, waiting for the leader to begin the fight. "Last chance, Akali, or you will end up just like Shen."

Akali's eyes lit up with anger, "Shen fought to his last breath to stop you and if I have to as well, so I will." Glaring at Zed, she raised her arm, signaling the hundred or so soldiers on the ground to charge.

In response, Zed charged forward, his ninjas close behind. The fight began exactly as Zed and Syndra had predicted. Arrows claimed a dozen of the shadow ninjas in just the first few seconds but after that, when the two groups were locked in melee combat, the arrows became useless as the archers were unable to get clean shots, safe from accidentally shooting their own allies in the back. Zed quickly made his mark, throwing two shurikens as he neared the front lines of the enemy and rushing past as two bodies dropped to the ground. As he reached the thick of the fight, surrounded by enemies, Zed did not draw his wrist blades but instead simply countered his enemies, grabbing them as they tried to stab or slash him and throwing or deflecting them away. Just by looking at him, Akali was unsure of why he was not using lethal methods but then it came to her as she watched. Zed was knocking the soldiers into the oil lamps that littered the ground. Most of them cracked and spilled oil out onto the stone and extinguishing but as Zed knocked away more and more ninjas, eventually flame met oil on the ground and a fire started to break out. Akali could watch no more. She twirled her kamas in her hands and dashed forward, trying to block out the sounds of her Kinkou warriors being hurled into the blaze. When she neared Zed, Akali leaped, extending her foot in mid air and catching his chest with a powerful kick. Zed was knocked back onto the ground for an instant but as Akali moved in, he leapt back to his feet. The two circled each other for a moment, focusing on their one-on-one fight as if the rest of the battle were not raging around them.

Akali was first to attack, stepping forward and swinging a kama at Zed's chest. Zed's form dissipated into the air, evading the axe's brutal cut but in the bright light, the shadow technique lent much less of an advantage.

"You may still be slippery Zed, but you can't dodge forever. I can see you," Akali taunted, watching the dark mass of shadow in the midst of the fight reform into Zed.

"It's true, my technique is not as stealthy in the light, but it does not matter. You shall still fall!" Angrily, the shadow ninja extended his arm blade and swung horizontally at Akali, aiming for her neck. Instinctively, she leapt back to avoid the slash, only too late realizing what Zed was doing. Behind her stood Zed's double who slashed at her simultaneously with the real Zed. Akali was caught mid leap on her right shoulder and fell through Zed's shadow, dissipating it as she crumpled to the ground.

Meanwhile, Syndra levitated twenty feet above the temple, taking on the entire rooftop of archers by herself. Arrows flew in a constant stream at the dark mage's form as it flowed easily between the sharp bolts whirring by. With powerful blasts of energy, Syndra returned fire, blasting enemies off of the roof with incredible force. She watched as they fell from the rooftop onto the stone below, landing with cracking noises as their armor crunched against the ground.

"Zed!" Syndra called to the shadow ninja, as he closed in on his prey below. Zed looked up, giving Akali time to roll away and three Kinkous enough time to take her place in the fray.

"What?" Zed called.

Syndra ducked another arrow and swiped with her hand, tossing the shooter from the roof. "Don't you think it's time to finish this?"

Zed growled and took a defensive stance against the three ninjas as they closed in. "Not yet. Not until Akali is dead!" He charged in at his enemies, stabbing one in the stomach and turning to shadow as his allies retaliated.

Syndra grumbled angrily and stretched her hands out to the Kinkous on the roof, focusing on making a telekinetic wall between them, stopping them from shooting any more arrows.

Ignoring the enemy ninjas, Zed charged blindly at Akali, raising his arm blade high in the air as she crawled away, the gash in her back noticeably staining the ground as she struggled. To save their leader, the remaining two warriors came to Akali's aid, grabbing Zed and only barely holding him back. Desperately, Zed tried to summon up the energy to push past.

"Akali, run!" one of the men, a ninja with light brown hair and strong arms groaned, as he grappled Zed's outstretched arm blade.

She shook her head and pushed herself to her feet. "No, Shen fought to his last breath. So will I."  
Zed fought hard, knowing he was moments from breaking the hold and finishing Akali for good but the ninja hissed at Akali again, "Akali, if you die, the order is lost! If you live, the Kinkou survive! Please, run!"

Akali was taken aback by this and stopped in place for a moment. He was right. Nobody else in the order was going to be able to take up the mantle of grandmaster. The only other person even qualified was another ninja by the name of Kennen who had duties elsewhere in the world! No, it had to be her. Akali nodded and threw her kama hard at Zed, forcing him to pull back and lose his edge over the two ninjas holding him back. Quickly while Zed was disabled, Akali broke into a dash, taking mighty leaps and kicking down some of Zed's shadow ninjas in three powerful jumps while creating a distance between herself and her attacker. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain as she continued to run into the jungle, and away from the temple she had wanted so desperately to protect, away from the people she knew would die to protect her.

"Syndra, finish this! I'm going after her. Waste them!" Zed called as he bowled over the two ninjas, knocking them to the ground and charging after Akali, who was already several hundred feet away.

Syndra glanced down at Zed, trying to maintain focus on the wall between her and the archers. "Zed!" She cried out to him. "Let her go! Your mission is here, to take the temple right? Show restraint and do as you said you wanted to! I can't hold up this barrier forever!"

Zed stopped running and turned to look up at Syndra who was wavering in the air, her hands shaking as arrow after arrow was deflected off of her invisible shield. Sweat coated her face and arrows had clearly grazed her a few times judging by the small cuts in her clothing and skin. Zed couldn't leave now. She was right.

"Then I'm ending this now," he growled, dashing up the stairs to the huge double doors and turning around to face the crowd of battling warriors. "LISTEN TO ME!"

Zed's ninjas looked over, trying to maintain themselves in combat as the Kinkou thinned their numbers. Half of them must have already been dead. Akali's ninjas did not pay so much attention. "We can stop this fighting! You don't have to die!" Zed shouted angrily, frustrated by the lack of attention. Hearing this strange phrase, a few of Akali's warriors looked over at Zed.

"Zed, tell your soldiers to stand down, then they might listen," Syndra groaned, her body slowly and shakily descending as she ran out of strength to keep herself up any longer.

"Fine, Order of the Shadow, stand down! Defense only!" Slowly after Zed's words were heard through the yard of the temple, the clang of metal died out. Many more now turned to look up at the unusual ninja before them. Akali's remaining warriors were interested. "We don't want to kill you, Kinkous. We want you to join us. After leaving five years ago, I learned some valuable lessons about the world. First of all, balance is a fools' master…" A noticeable growl came over the crowd as the Kinkou's heard the foundation of their society insulted by Zed. "If we were to stop aiming for balance and start aiming for complete peace, complete control, complete victory, we could achieve those things! Who would there be to stop us? Who would dare stand in the way of peace? It's something that we all clearly want! This order needs a steady hand. I want to provide guidance and lead you to victory."

There was silence for a long moment as Akali's ninjas started to whisper to each other, some of them clearly considering the offer of joining Zed.

"Your order is falling to pieces!" Zed continued, "Shen lost his duel with me because he failed to see what I do: we should not fear power! We should embrace it! When I united with the shadows, I was given a gift, a chance to right the wrongs of the Kinkou. Neither the Kinkou nor the Order of the Shadow are perfect, but with your help they could be!"

Another break of silence fell over the scene, the only sound being the crackling of the fire. Panting, Syndra touched down next to Zed and wiped sweat from her forehead. Zed looked over and noticed she was smiling. He couldn't help but smile a bit himself under the mask.

Suddenly, one Kinkou raised his hand. It was a young man, probably in his mid-twenties with pale skin and black hair. "I will join you. The world needs order. I will help you bring it."

Zed beckoned him forward and the ninja came forward, ascending the stone stairs. "What is your name, Kinkou?" Zed inquired.

"My name is Marcus," he replied softly, his voice nervous.

Zed stretched out his arm and pulled Marcus next to him, taking hold of his hand and shaking it before raising it up to show the crowd. "See? This young man understands the value of unity! Why can not the rest of you?"

"Because you're a tyrant who stands against everything we have fought for, what our brothers died for!" a voice called. Zed whipped around to look at the speaker. It was the same ninja with light brown hair who told Akali to run.

"You…" Zed hissed. "Come here."

The ninja complied, bravely striding forward up the steps towards Zed. "Why don't you repeat that for me," Zed growled when the brunette man drew near.

"I said you are a sadistic bastard who wants to bring disorder and chaos. You are lying to these people and you mean us harm."

"And you honestly believe that don't you?" Zed questioned. The man nodded. "Well then," Zed commented, taking a step away and looking at Marcus. "Kill him."

"Wh-what?" Marcus stuttered, taking a step back.

Zed clasped his shoulder and turned him to look at his nervous face. "You want order? You have to take it. Nobody is going to give it to you. Kill him and bring order."

The young man nodded, a shiver running down his spine as he drew his dagger. The brown haired rebel did not waver an inch as he watched Marcus step close, his dagger firmly held in his hand. He watched closely, his breath even and consistent even as the dagger slid smoothly into his flesh, releasing a steady drip of red onto the stone floor. Marcus looked up, making eye contact with the man he had just stabbed and heard the Kinkou ninja's last words. "And so we truly are lost… My soul is with you Grandmaster Akali…"

Zed snarled with hatred at the man as he started waving in place, losing his strength and planted kick on his get, knocking him backwards down the stone steps into a pile at the feet of the gathered crowd.

"So what will it be? Join me, or end up like him?"

Syndra grabbed Zed by the hand and pulled hard. "Zed, what are you doing?"

"Sacrifices have to be made Syndra," he replied, pulling his hand free, "believe me, I do not want to kill. But it must be done so that the rest can be saved." Syndra shrugged her shoulders and looked down. "Syndra! Did you not kill dozens of men today on that roof?"

"I did," she replied, looking up angrily, "But killing in combat and killing in cold blood are very different Zed. You should try to figure out the difference."

"There is no difference when our future is on the line."

Syndra turned towards the temple and took a step inside, "Finish this Zed. Then remember to let go of your anger. The king I will sit beside is not a hateful man in his heart."

Zed nodded and turned his eyes back to the Kinkou ninjas. "So who will be joining the order and who is joining that fool at the bottom of the stairs?"

* * *

Author's notes: I totally lied about the contents of this chapter in the last author's nots, didn't I? I'm sorry. When I was writing this chapter, there was just a lot to write for both Zed and Syndra and Riven and Yasuo so I decided to split it in half. This week is all about the villains, next up is the heroes.

Next time: Yasuo and Riven unravel a tangled web of secrets in the Shadow Isles as they brave the shadows to find the truth. (See what i did there? That's a Zed line. Yeeeeeah)


	9. Questions and Answers

"Well? Why is this Zed guy so important?" Yasuo angrily prodded, as if he'd been waiting for this answer for weeks. "Seriously, Yorick, I will kill you if you don't hurry this up."

"Alright, alright!" Yorick pleaded, backing himself further against the dark, mossy tree behind him. "Zed is a ninja from Ionia. The group that you saw with the grey and red armor are his guys."

"How did you know we saw them?" Riven asked, taking a step in but not being nearly as aggressive as her counterpart who angrily shook his sword in his hand, causing a harsh cold breeze to wash over the group.

"Why else would you two be here?" Yorick asked, "I am no fool. I heard of the events in Zaun and I can only assume you thought I had something to do with it."

"Got that damn right!" Yasuo snarled. "Continue."

"Right, so this Zed guy has been a big deal for over five years now. It all started back before Thresh even chose you to carry the souls. In fact, Zed is WHY Thresh chose you. You see, Zed tapped into ancient powers long ago called the Living Shadows. They are an ancient dark magic that predates even the Rune Wars. They were made by a species that we call the darkin. To our knowledge, they are an extinct race. Anyway, their creation was horrible and Zed unleashed it upon himself."

"So, he's dead?" Riven asked.

"No," Yorick responded with a shudder, "Worse. In fact, he may as well be dead. The Shadows, they aren't like any other kind of magic you've ever seen. They are corrupt and twisted by nature. They have always strived to cover the world in darkness, as Zed does now, weather he knows it or not. He may be blissfully unaware of the invasion taking place within him but as it has with men before him, the magic will consume him and he will become an agent of darkness."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you Yorick?" Yasuo growled raising his sword.

"Yasuo stop it! Killing him won't give us more answers. Put the sword down."

Yasuo turned to look at Riven who held her firm glare. "Fine," Yasuo pouted, shoving his sword roughly back into its sheath.

"Continue," Riven said assertively to Yorick.

"This is power of pure evil and even my brothers here and I have souls. We are not out to destroy the world. We are out to survive and thrive here. We cannot do that without the world remaining as it is. Thresh had to ensure Zed died before he could put an end to the world as we know it."

"So, he was afraid? That's why he had Yasuo collect all the souls for him and why he set up his whole ruse?" Riven prodded, almost sounding polite towards the hunched grave digger.

"Yes," Yorick nodded, "Thresh wanted to save the world from Zed so that we could remain."

Yasuo laughed out loud, "Ha! Saving the world so you could keep leeching off it."

"At least he was going to save the world," Yorick shouted back. "You killed him and now there is nobody to stop Zed! Our one hope is gone! Only a matter of time now…"

Yasuo kicked Yorick roughly in the side, using the wind to add extra force, making the undead man yelp and crumple up on the ground. "So what now Riven?"

"We don't know anything about Zed. We don't know where he is, what he wants, or if he even knows what's happening to him. We don't even know much of anything about the Living Shadows. I- I don't know."

Yasuo turned back to Yorick and watched him sit back up with contempt in his eyes. "We did have another hope besides Thresh, you know, but your buddy killed him. Remember?"

"Jax?" Riven questioned confusedly.

"Jax."

"What? Was he really as strong as Thresh?"

"Stronger," Yasuo nodded, "Thresh got him with a cheap shot. Jax was the bravest and strongest man I ever knew. He taught me… I just was too stupid to save him." Yasuo took a few steps away from Yorick and the wind slowed to a light murmur through the trees, rustling the leaves.

Yorick raised his hand shakily, as if asking permission to talk. Riven nodded at him. "I can't bring him back but if you let me live, I do have a way of helping you."

"How?" Yasuo asked, his voice low with grief.

"If you remember, I created an image of your elder in your mind to trick you into working for Thresh in the first place. I can warp the dead and utilize their spirits. I can bring back an image of Jax who can talk to you as your friend would. It won't be the real thing and he won't be physical but you can speak to him, ask him what to do. But only if you let me go while you talk to him."

"Fine," Yasuo shrugged, "I'll hunt you down and kill you later then."

Riven rolled her eyes, "You can go if you do that Yorick. He won't kill you."

"Good, so we have a deal… Here it goes then." Yorick closed his yellow eyes and focused for a moment. Before their eyes, a grey wisp started forming in the air. The breath started to leave Yasuo's lungs as he saw the cloak and mask of Jax forming in front of him. His mask skill glowed blue and he even had his trusty lamppost. Yasuo dropped to one knee before his fallen mentor and laid down his blade as any Ionian would. "Jax. Jax I'm so sorry."

Riven put a hand on Yasuo's shoulder, "It's not the real Jax, Yasuo. The real one is gone but… I am sure he forgives you. He came here willing to give his life. He knew you had it in you to win."

"Winning is pointless, you stupid Noxian," Yasuo sobbed. "What good is winning the war if you lose everything else?"

"It means you live to fight another day. It means you have a shot at peace!"

Riven was cut off by the grey figure suddenly becoming animated and turning to Yasuo who was still on the ground. "Get up Boy."

"Jax, I'm sorry. I failed."

Jax let out a slight laugh and plucked the wispy, intangible lamppost from the ground and twirled it. "You didn't fail. You're still here, right?"

"But you're not."

"Trust me, I had my time… I've seen my fair share. I was ready to go."

Riven looked down at Yasuo who was quivering, clearly trying to hold himself together. "Um… Jax, we need your help."

Jax looked to Riven and tilted his head, "Oh, you're the one he was hunting. The one who blew me off in the Freljord! So you two made up I see?"

She shrugged, "I suppose but we need to ask you-"

Jax chuckled and cut her off. "So are you two together now? I mean, you look like a cute couple, comforting each other over your old friend, Jax."

Riven blushed slightly and shook her head, "Erm, no, we aren't. We are just working together. But we need to know what you know about the Living Shadows and a man called Zed, a ninja from Ionia."

Riven's expression turned to stone as she notice Jax straighten up. Clearly the words meant something to him. "The Living Shadows… Why do you speak of them?"

"This guy Zed absorbed them. He wants to darken the world and destroy everything or something," Yasuo huffed.

"That isn't what I said," Yorick interjected, "I said he may not even know it but they are influencing him. Thresh foresaw…"

"Jax held up a finger from his three fingered hand to Yorick to silence him. "I know of the Shadows. In fact, I remember when they were made."

"Wait a sec, how old are you?" Riven wondered.

"You asked me that same question the first time we met in the Freljord. I told you I had been around a long time."

Yasuo shakily got to his feet, avoiding looking at Jax's mask. "So you remember when the darkin made it?"

Jax nodded, "I do. The darkin wanted to make the most horrible magical weapon the world had ever seen… They succeeded."

"So how do we stop them?" Riven asked, "There must be a way."

"I don't know how to kill the Shadows or even if they can be killed. What I do know is that the best way to stop a weapon is to stop the wielder. You need to figure out how to defeat Zed."

"And how do we do that?" Riven prodded.

"How am I supposed to know? Does it look like I make it to a lot of Ionian ninja events? But I know someone who might."

"Who?" Yasuo asked excitedly, turning to look at Jax and immediately moving his gaze to the dirt once more.

"His name is Zilean. He's a bit of a chronicler of history. He's very old. I'm not sure which of us is older to be honest. But regardless, he will have the answers you seek. He lives in a tower in the middle of the desert beyond the great barrier. He takes note of everything that happens in the entire world. He knows everything that happens and can even tell the future at times. However, as he will tell you, the future is never set in stone until it happens."

"So that's it!" Riven smiled at Yasuo, "We just need to go meet this man, Zilean, find out how to beat Zed based on who he is and what he knows, then we can defeat him and the Shadows for good!" Riven seemed excited and ready to go as Jax turned and extended a ghostly hand towards Yasuo.

"It's okay Boy. I forgive you."

"You're not even the real Jax," Yasuo huffed.

"I may not be, I may just be an image conjured up by the scum of Valoran," he commented gesturing at Yorick, "But I think the same way the real Jax does and I know everything he knew. I was not afraid of death before and I'm not afraid of it now. I went willingly to what I knew was probably my end because I had a feeling you were worth it. Prove to me you were. Save this silly, fragile world a second time for me. Okay?"

Yasuo hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "I will. In your memory, I will fight."

Jax chuckled, "That a boy! Now go. The Shadows aren't wasting any time; neither should you."

Yasuo looked into the blue light of Jax's mask and smiled, "Yes sir." Yasuo tipped his hat and shot one last glare at Yorick before turning on his heels and dashing back through the jungle towards the boat, the wind pushing at his back. Riven ran behind him as fast as she could but struggled to keep up with her companion's incredible speed.

"Thank you Jax!" She shouted over her shoulder at the grey image.

"You are welcome Riven. Keep an eye on each other. This is a threat I hoped that you and everyone else would never have to face, let alone without me."

* * *

Author's notes: Hey everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long to release! Life is pretty busy these days as I am moving to Oregon in about 2 weeks and Diovolo is moving to Chicago in a month or so. I threw in that first line for those of you who had to wait longer than you liked. We are doing our best but we can't make a lot of promises at the moment and we hope you understand.

Next time we upload, we're hoping but again, not promising that we'll have both Yas/Riv and Zed/Syn halves together again. I really hope you enjoyed this one in particular. This chapter has a lot of plot relivance as you can probably tell and it was very fun to write. We've been talking about it for probably four months now!

Next time: Zed and Syndra attempt to complete their extermination of the Kinkou while Yasuo and Riven make their way back to Demacia, hoping to avoid any hiccups along the way.


	10. Can't do it Alone

After nearly a dozen corpses joined the Kinkou loyalist at the bottom of the stairs, Zed, Marcus, and the new recruits to the Order of the Shadow joined Syndra inside of the temple. As Zed entered he looked around at the place he once know.

A long time ago, Zed and Shen had trained side by side in this old place and then it all ended. Zed looked around the entry hall at the place where he had been brutally slashed across his chest and face. Reflexively, he raised a hand up to cover his face, stopping only as it touched the cold iron mask that hid him away, hid his weakness.

The masked ninja straightened himself up and looked around, taking in the view of the destroyed temple. Just passed the entry hall laid the main room of the temple with a row of stairs leading up to the alter. However, the floor on the left side of the room seemed to have been caved in from the destruction of the temple five years ago. Zed smirked and looked over to Syndra who was sitting on the stairs up near the top of the alter, "You'd think they would have cleaned this place up. It's been five years and they haven't so much as swept this floor." Zed kicked a pebble and listened to the sound of its bounce echo around.

"Does it matter Zed? This place is ours. We can clean house later."

Zed shrugged, "Yes, but first, the box…" Turning on his heel Zed addressed the horde of soldiers coming his way through the door. "My friends, over the coming weeks I will train you all rigorously in the Shadow Technique. These are the ways that I have learned over the last several years of having the shadows as my allies and together, you and I will master them and bring the world to peace. Now, those of you who have been with me for the last several years already know of this technique but none of you have yet mastered it. When I am able to locate the box and unleash the darkness inside, I will grant each of you the ability to control the shadows as I do."

Marcus smiled and looked back at the other ninjas who had converted, "To bring peace," he added.

Zed nodded, "Yes, for peace. Using the shadows will prevent death. Only a fool would challenge us when we can use their very own shadows against them!" With that, he reached down to where Syndra was sitting beside him and took her hand, helping her to her feet. He turned away from the ninjas and smiled, content with how things were going. Everything seemed to be happening according to plan, how it had to be for Zed and Syndra to succeed. "Fancy a tour of the temple, my queen?"

Syndra smiled and nodded, once again seeing the ambitious but kind man she loved in his eyes again, "Lead the way, my king."

* * *

As Yasuo and Riven made their way back to the boat, Riven was surprised at how high-spirited her companion seemed to be. Given that they were in the bleakest place in all of Valoran and he had just said goodbye to his mentor and friend for what was likely the last time, Yasuo seemed oddly… cheery. Yasuo was never cheery. But still, Riven would take what she could get. She shrugged it off as unusual but a welcome change and continued to follow him back to the shore, emerging from the dreary jungle and onto they grey pebble beach.

"So, back to Demacia then?" She shouted forward.

"Yes! We need to get to Demacia to return the boat and find some maps or something to get us into the desert. Going beyond the Great Barrier is uncommon but I'm sure Demacia has a map of it somewhere," Yasuo called back, continuing to move with a spring in his step.

As they reached the boat and stepped aboard, Yasuo stopped in place, staring at the deck just a few feet away. Riven paused as well, just behind Yasuo without stepping on the deck and prodded his shoulder, "You gonna keep moving so I can get on or are you leaving me here?"

"Riven," Yasuo hissed, "Look at that."

Riven stood up on her tip toes to see over the deck at what Yasuo was staring at with a look of awe on his face. Standing on eight thick, hairy legs was the largest spider she had ever seen. It was easily larger than her hand, with legs just as thick as her fingers. It stood, staring down Yasuo with it's beady eyes before scuttling to the edge of the boat.

"That's amazing," Yasuo commented, "But not time for this. We need to move." With a swish of his hand, the Ionian sent a gust of wind hurdling at the little creature, sending it flying off the boat and dropping into the water with a little splash. "Ready now?" Yasuo asked, turning to Riven and offering her a hand to help her up on to the ship.  
"Uh… Sure, buddy," Riven agreed suspiciously, taking the hand and climbing up. "What's with you?"

"What's with what?"

Riven tilted her head, giving Yasuo a knowing smile, "This attitude. This isn't you."

Yasuo took a deep breath, "Well, we need to get this done fast and I'm fine."

"Really?" Riven smirked, clearly not buying it.

Yasuo glared ,"So the minute I act happy, you're upset? Last week you were talking about how selfish and harsh I was. Now that I'm trying to be nice for five minutes, that's an issue?"

"I'm wondering why you're acting nice."

"I just want to get this whole thing over with so that I can move on, Jax can rest well, and I never have to think about any of this again. I don't love the Shadow Isles, having to look at a man who died for me, or finding out that in saving the world from Thresh, I doomed it to have to face Zed. So yeah, be upset at me for trying to draw inspiration from an old friend and… I don't know, make a change." Yasuo moved up to the helm of the ship and slumped down, plucking up a fresh whiskey bottle from his bag and biting out the cork.

Riven sighed in frustration and moved to take the wheel of the ship. Turning the rudder to lead them out to sea. "Waiting on you," she growled at Yasuo, pointing at the sail. "Your move, wind guy."

Yasuo nodded and silently raised his hand, pointing at the sale. Responding to his request, the wind pushed against the cloth, and started to move the boat forward, foot by foot until they were out at sea and gaining speed. "You really ought to learn to do that yourself," Yasuo added as he sat back and took another sip of drink.

"Well we don't really have time for slow Ionian lessons, now do we? Didn't you want to be in a rush?"

"No, I want to get this done. Maybe getting it done would be easier if you learned a little bit more about the wind." Yasuo smiled and raised himself to his feet, "We can start on the way back to Demacia if you want, Riven."

Riven pondered this for a moment, still feeling angry with Yasuo for having to be such a secretive partner when it came to his feelings and motivations but eventually shrugged and nodded, "I don't see why not. What do we do?"

Yasuo smiled, "Take a deep breath."

Rived did so, but as she did, she bent her knees and brought in her arms, as if falling into a combat stance, ready to brawl. Yasuo smirked, "Stop that."

"Hm?" Riven questioned confusedly.

"Stop the whole fighting stance thing. I told you before that the wind isn't a weapon. Stop acting like you're going to wield it like one. Did you even see me using it on the sail?"

Riven nodded, "Yeah, like it was nothing. You just pointed essentially, right?"

"Right," Yasuo agreed, "It is familiarity, not strength. Once you get to know the wind, it will do as you wish and once you hone your focus, you can become truly strong with it."

With that, Yasuo stepped behind Riven and despite a slight growl of disapproval from her, he took her hand and swished it through the air the way he did with his own. "The key is to never meet an end point. The wind doesn't end so your hand shouldn't stop abruptly. We're looking for a steady flow of wind so your movements should be fluid and circular. Only make sharp movements if you want a sharp result."

Riven nodded and pulled her arm out of his hold, continuing the circular motion on her own. "Got it."

"Slower." Riven took another deep breath, more to cope with being coached by a dishonest drunk than anything else. "That's it, another deep breath, try to feel the air around you, notice the way it wafts through your fingers as you move them and then, focus on moving the wind with you. Don't force it."

Riven closed her eyes and focused for a moment, gently waving her hand through the air, concentrating. But, despite all her talent, this skill did not come easily and not even a subtle gust was produced. After twenty minutes of this, Riven grumbled and sat down on the deck where Yasuo was sipping his drink and watching.

"Just practice, you'll get it."

"This is infuriating," Riven commented.

"Why is that?" Yasuo chuckled.

"Because I'm a warrior. If I can't lift something, I train my muscles until I can. This isn't the same."

"Why not?" Yasuo inquired. "You can't move the wind, so train your spirit until you can."

"My spirit," Riven laughed.

"That's right," Yasuo said seriously. "It's obvious that you have a strong will or you wouldn't have made it this far. I may not know much of your past, Riven, but I do know that you've survived getting hunted and have a passion for your people in Noxus. You must have a strong spirit. You just have to learn to direct it and you could be better at the wind technique than I am."

Riven smiled and blushed lightly, "Thanks. That means a lot to me that you think so. You're quite strong too. Even after I, well, ruined you," Riven admitted. Yasuo nodded and shrugged. Yeah, she sort of did. "After all of that, you were so motivated and so brave. I cried for my loss but you just kept going."

Yasuo looked away, "Yeah, well a brave face doesn't mean much these days."

"It wasn't just a brave face that chased me all the way to she Shadow Isles. It was a brave man and you know it."

Yasuo couldn't help but smile a little, "Well thanks. That's something I think I sort of needed to hear. The truth is, I'm uh…"

"I know," Riven said, patting his back. "You don't have to say anything. I get it." Riven didn't feel the need to make him admit his fears. She just wanted to be someone who could understand his fears and not give him more trouble for them. After all, his life was hard enough without a partner who poked at his self esteem. Yasuo was a proud man, one who never wanted to back down and never wanted to admit weakness.

At that very moment however, Yasuo was admiring the fact that Riven was strong enough to admit her weaknesses, to know that there were flaws in her path and face those flaws head on. Yasuo himself was used to dodging any emotions unless he absolutely had to face them. That plan had worked in the past but deep down, he knew he was just holding it all in for the day it would eventually burst forth. Yasuo was not as strong as he wished he was, but with Riven by his side, maybe he could be as strong as he needed to be to see this task through to the end.

* * *

Author's notes: Sorry this chapter has been on hold for so long. As I said in a previous Author's notes, I was moving and as of yesterday, I'm settled in to my new living situation. I'll do my best to keep the chapters rolling (hopefully better speed than this) but not only do I have school going on but I have a new solo project I'm working on that should be hitting the internet relatively soon. So thanks for holding with me through this time of change, I promise to keep going even if I slow down a tad from where I was a couple months ago.

Next time: Riven and Yasuo return to Demacia in hopes of finding a map that will lead them to parts unknown in search of Zilean and answers.


	11. The Explorer and the Scholar

"Hey, Syndra?" Zed sighed, leaning back on the cool stone steps of the temple and looking up at the sky.

"Yes?" She replied turning her own gaze from the moon to the somber, calm expression on Zed's face.

"Do you remember how things were before?" he wondered, her eyes wandering through the cosmos above him.

Syndra pondered for a moment, wondering what might have gotten into Zed. He was not usually the type to ask this kind of question. "What do you mean before, Love?"

"I mean," Zed started, taking a moment to find his words, "Do you remember how it was when we first met? We didn't worry about fighting Shen or finding the box in the first month. It wasn't until I trusted you and told you everything that it got complicated. Until then, it was just us, at peace."

Syndra nodded and took the ninja's hand in her own, squeezing gently but firmly. "Of course I remember that Zed, and I loved those times more than you could imagine but... they're in the past now. We're doing what's right."

"That's true," Zed agreed, "We are bringing justice to the people of Valoran. But at the same time, I miss our old way of life." Zed's eyes glinted with the light of the sky above him, making Syndra sigh and lean back to look up as well.

"We can have that again Zed. We just have to make sure that our future is secure and then we'll never have to worry again. It can be simple- forever." She smiled.

Suddenly, Zed sat up and pressed his mask to his face. "You're right. Those times are gone but they can come back." Zed breathed heavily for a moment, his mind racing, his heart beating fast. That was what he was fighting for. It was so hard to remember with his conquest for a throne at the forefront and his vendetta against the Kinkou constantly in mind- this fight, all of it was for the future. They would have peace.

"Syndra," Zed murmered. "I swear that we will have those times again. By my blade, I will bring them. I will have my absolution and you will have your peace. I promise. I will bring you to the end of this."

Syndra smiled and chuckled slightly, "No need to bring me Zed, I'm going there all on my own..."

* * *

After their long voyage home, Yasuo and Riven pulled into the docks of Demacia once again and were greeted by not one but two familiar faces on the rickety wooden planks. Both Prince Jarvan and his best soldier and bodyguard Garen stood, smiling as the two pulled into port. Yasuo was first off the ship, quickly making his way over to the Demacians.

"Garen! Long time no see!"

"It has been indeed," Garen nodded, shaking Yasuo's hand. "How goes the travels?"

Yasuo shrugged, "They've been better, I can tell you that much."

"What does that mean?" Jarvan smirked.

"It means," Riven started, hopping from the boat to the dock and swiftly approaching the group, "We've got bad news. There is something bad coming. Apparently it's worse than Thresh."

Jarvan's face froze in shock and horror. "Worse than Thresh?!" Garen spluttered. "How? What?"

"Some guy called Zed," Yasuo nodded, adjusting his hat, "He's a ninja from Ionia who's unearthed some pretty dark magic. We need to get to the Shurima Desert and fast. There's supposedly a guy called Zilean there who can help us with the details.

"Of course," Jarvan nodded, still trying to process what could be worse than a soul-stealing monster from the Shadow Isles. "Any Demacian resources that can be spared are at your disposal.

Garen smiled and nodded reassuringly. "Since we drove back Noxus a few years ago, we've never been more secure. The military can't be moved but we are prepared to support you if need be."

Yasuo held up a hand to silence them. "No no. All we need is a guide. See, neither of us are all that familiar with Shurima. Hate to get lost and die of thirst in a desert. Oh! Speaking of which, we also need more whiskey!"

Riven punched Yasuo on the arm and interjected, "Know anyone who can get us there?"

Garen let out a low grunt and everyone looked over at him. "Garen?" Jarvan asked, "Something on your mind?"

The soldier shook his head and looked at the ground. "Sorry, Jarvan. It's just... I think I may know of someone who can help you two."

Yasuo waited a moment for Garen to continue. "Well?"

"It's uh... a boy named Ezreal. Someone my er... sister told me about."

"You have a sister?" Yasuo smirked, trying to picture what female Garen would look like.

"Yes, now be silent," Garen groaned.

"Why are you acting like you're going to be sick?" Riven asked.

Garen awkwardly shifted back and forth. "Ezreal is um... an interest of my sister's. You'll probably find her in the library. You'll know her by the Crownguard crest on her tunic. Ask her about him. I just... no." Suddenly Garen spun on his heel and quickly bolted away.

Yasuo chuckled. "Well this should be fun!"

About an hour later, Yasuo and Riven stepped into the great Demacian library. The building was simply massive. It towered over much of the city at seven stories high and was a hundred yards wide in every direction. A set of stone columns lined the entire place around the edges, giving an old fashioned feel to the great library. Once inside, Yasuo slapped his hand on the front desk and briskly asked the librarian ",Do you know where we can find Lux Crownguard?"

The librarian was an old woman who turned slowly, raising her finger to her lips to quiet the rushed young man. "Yes, I do. She's right over there," she confirmed, pointing to a young looking blonde girl wearing a bright blue tunic, looking through a shelf of books rather closely. Yasuo nodded at the librarian and turned, making his way swiftly over to the girl.

"Hey you, little girl. Are you Lux?" Yasuo asked, tapping her on the shoulder, making her whip around with a sharp gasp.

"Who? Uh. What? No I uh!..." Lux stammered, blushing a bright red.

"So you're not Lux?" Yasuo sneered, "Did the librarian lie to us?"

The young girl took a deep breath and calmed herself before responding. "Yes sir. I am Luxanna Crownguard." Politely, she stuck out her hand to shake but Yasuo crossed his arms, dismissing her.

"Look, we're looking for some guy called Ezreal. You know where he is?" Yasuo continued.

Again, Lux blushed, stepping back against the bookshelf, making it shake slightly. She winced as the loud thud of books falling off the other side echoed around the huge library.

"Uhh... pleasure to meet you Miss Crownguard. My name is Riven and this unfortunately abrasive man, is my companion Yasuo."

Straightening herself up and brushing a few strands of blonde hair out of her eyes, Lux again stretched out her hand to shake with Riven. "Pleasure, Ma'am."

"Through rude, Yasuo's words still carry meaning. We are looking from for an explorer named Ezreal, and your brother informed us you might now his whereabouts."

Lux glanced nervously between Riven and Yasuo, intimidated by Yasuo's impatient glare. "He is um... I think he's er... over there." She gestured over her shoulder to the next row of shelves where a young man with hair the color of sand was sorting through a pile of old looking books.

Yasuo smiled and nodded to Lux who smiled back, glad to have earned the approval of the mysterious man- until he spoke. "Finally, something useful comes out of your mouth. C'mon Riven." Yasuo stepped around the next row of books and made his way down toward Ezreal, leaving Lux behind with a disappointed expression on her face.

Riven shot a glare at Yasuo, "Again, I must apologize for Yasuo's impoliteness, thank you for assistance."

The young girl shrugged and gave a small grin before turning back to her shelf, "Always happy to be of aid, Ma'am."

Riven caught up to Yasuo, "What the hell is wrong with you! That girl offers her assistance for no other reason than kindness and you return the favor by being an immature prick!"

Yasuo irritably glanced at the boy , still reading and turned back to Riven, "Look, we're in a tad bit of hurry here to save these damned people from some shadow guy. I feel like I'm doing them enough of a favor by saving their pretentious asses. Pretending to like random rich elitists? That's not going to happen- even if she's Garen's sister."

"Look you're not wrong to have your ideals and beliefs, but just because you have them doesn't mean you have to be an asshole." Riven, deciding this conversation was over, continued to Ezreal.

In frustration with Riven's nagging, Yasuo kicked the shelf, smirking at the high-pitched squeal that came from Lux as a book fell on her on the other side.

In frustration with Riven's nagging, Yasuo kicked the shelf, smirking at the high-pitched squeal that came from Lux as a book fell on her on the other side. Riven simply ignored this and maneuvered to Ezreal's table, "Excuse me, you are Ezreal, the explorer, correct?"

"Well yes I am. I'm Ez-"

"Great," Yasuo butted in, "We need a guide to the Shurima Desert and we need to leave right away."

"Excuse me!" Ezreal lifted his hands in mocking defense to the Ionian, "I was answering this woman's question." Ezreal returned his attention to Riven, "Yes, I am the famous explorer you speak of. What brings you here?"

Yasuo hissed angrily as he stepped aside and leaned against the bookshelf, again misjudging the stability and sending a few more books down on the young woman on the other side. Riven smiled at Ezreal and continued, "My companion and I are searching for a man named Ziliean who happens to be in the Shurimian desert and we were looking for a guide."

"Is that so," Ezreal smirked, "well you've come to the right place. There is no one more qualified and more skilled than myself when it comes to navigation."

Yasuo rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, you must be great. Will you do it or what? We need to leave like- tomorrow."

"I'll get you there yesterday," Ezreal grinned. "Come on!" In a flash of light Ezreal appeared already ahead of Yasuo on his way through the library.

Yasuo was taken aback by the boy's stunt but shook off this amazement quickly. He had seen too much to be left speechless by a simple party trick like that. "You're seriously doing this for free?!" Yasuo laughed. "We haven't even talked about paying you yet!"

"Ehh, I would have, but you're already in rags, and I'm not one to refuse charity work," Ezreal smirked.

Riven laughed a little as she got up, "He got you there."

Yasuo growled defensively and looked down at his tattered cloak and dirty tunic and shoulder armor. "They're not rags! They're just well used. It's what I'm used to."

"Just gonna need a little light reading for the road," Ezreal quickly turned into an isle and promptly crashed into someone carrying a stack of books, "W-whoa!"

As the stack of books toppled to the ground in a heap, Ezreal noticed a girl he had seen several times in the library quickly dropping to pick them up. He knew the golden haired girl by appearaceappearance only and he, too, knelt to help pick things up. "Sorry about that Miss, getting a little ahead of myself I think!" He reached out to pick up a book just as Lux did the same and the two accidently brushed hands. The feel of Lux's soft warm skin on his fingertips made Ezreal's stomach do a flip. Lux drew back nervously and looked at Ezreal as he did the same. As their eyes met, both shared a similar luminescent blush that tinted their cheeks a light pink.

"Uhh, sorry about all this, my name's E-Ezreal." he stammered a little bit and quickly got back to picking up the books.

Lux gathered up what she could and stood as well, brushing her hair away and smiled as she accepted the neat stack from Ezreal. "Um... Thank you Sir. My name is Luxanna Crownguard," she replied. "Lux for short," She added with a slight giggle.

Yasuo groaned and rolled his eyes again. "Oh for the gods' sake!"

Ezreal ignored Yasuo's commentary and focused his attention on Lux, "Luxanna, what a gorgerous name, such elegance."

Lux quickly looked at the ground and then at Riven, avoiding eye contact with the explorer and looking for much needed support.

Ezreal shifted back and forth in place, looking Lux over for a short instant before blurting, "Sorry, but if you'd pardon me, I was just grabbing a book on the Shurimian Desert. Just gotta get around you for a moment."

"Yes yes! Of course!" Lux exclaimed, practically leaping out of Ezreal's way as he passed, watching until he rounded a corner before turning back to Riven with a panicked look in her eyes. "Help me!" Riven looked confused for a moment until Lux straightened her posture and corrected herself. "I mean um.. Please Ma'am, can you um... give me some advice... I'm not very good with boys."

Riven's face reddened a little, caught off guard by Lux's sudden question, "What? Do I look like an expert!?"

"Well um.. You're older than me and you're with... him," Lux explained, gesturing to the still bitter looking Yasuo without looking at him.

A pink glow crept up Riven's face, "It's nothing like it looks! He's just traveling with me, that's all!"

Lux stepped back awkwardly and bowed her head in embarrassment, "I'm sorry for making the assumption Ma'am. It's just that I sort of like that boy Ezreal. I see him around here a lot and he's an adventurer! That's so exciting! I've never even left Demacia! What good is all my magic and practice and combat training if I'm not even using it in the real world! Ezreal is so cool and so lucky that he gets to do all of that. You know?"

Riven pondered on Lux's words, "You know what, I've got an idea. What if you come along with us to Shurima?"

Yasuo did not wait for Lux's response before blurting out, "No way! She's a child! She's just a rich little trophy who would either slow us down or die on day one. She can't come."

Lux elected to ignore Yasuo's words and smiled widely at Riven, "Do you mean it? I can come?!"

"Hello?! Can you not hear me? The answer is no!" Yasuo yelled in frustration before getting shushed by a nearby librarian.

Riven looked Yasuo dead in the eye as she responded to Lux, "Consider it our gift for your assistance on finding Ezreal."

"You trying to get everyone killed now Riven? I thought you gave up on that life, or is the old Noxian brainwashing coming back?"

Lux's eyes opened wide in shock, "Wait, Noxian brainwashing? What is he talking about?!"

"Look, Lux, I'll explain everything to you later, but for now we have to get on our way there are darker forces at work than Noxus."

"Well alright," Lux shrugged, eyeing Riven carefully, "I just need to go grab my things! Wait for me at the gate! Then you have to tell me everything!" With that the young girl dashed off, leaving Yasuo fuming with anger and Riven smiling in enjoyment at his displeasure.

"This is going to be hell for me, you know that right?" Yasuo grumbled. "We don't need a rookie like that around and I'm not responsible for what happens to her."

Riven smirked and patted Yasuo's shoulder, "I know it will be hell for you, why do you think I invited her?"

"And you think I'm cruel..." Yauso sighed.

* * *

Author's notes: Hey everyone, thanks for reading and hopefully not forgetting about us what with our long break. Both Diovolo and I recently moved and are working on our college courses so it is reasonable to expect slightly less frequent updates but, of course, the show must go on! LoTS will be surging forward full steam ahead and we can't wait to share what we have in store for you!

Next time: Zed and Syndra make unexpected plans and Yasuo and Riven begin their quest for the Shurima Desert and Zilean!


	12. Author's notes

Hey everyone, this isn't really a chapter, it's just an Author's notes... yeah. Never done this before but I thought it might be a good idea! Since updates have been taking longer lately, I'd like to give a couple of brief notes of interest!

First of all, yes, this story is going to be finished and the story, while ever-evolving is set in stone. No new champs are going to be added or subtracted.

Second, my other story, "No Tomorrow" may be updated now and then but this is the priority. Whenever Diovolo and I can get together and write this, we will. I'm sorry it's taking so long. Thanks for hanging in there!

Last, we got a review that concerned me. A guest reviewed to let me know about some... issues with the story. Apparently I'm just making up relationships between characters and changing things how I please with no concern for lore. This horribly misinformed gentleman/lady gave me concern because I don't know how many other people feel the same way! While those concerns WOULD be valid, I want to make sure everyone knows THIS IS A SEQUEL STORY. Garen and Yasuo know each other because THEY MET IN THE PREVIOUS BOOK. Please, read that if you're confused. I tried to make it clear but apparently some people didn't get the memo. So, while I could just delete that review, I'll leave it there so that it can be addressed by anyone who reads! Haha, hope that cleared things up. Maybe... read the Author's notes next time? I sorta plastered the sequel thing all over early on.


	13. The Next Step

"Hey Syndra," Zed muttered softly as she passed on her way back to their shared quarters in the temple.

Syndra's eyelids fluttered as her gaze met Zed's, "Yes, love?"

"I wanted to speak with you. May we?"

Syndra could almost read nervousness in Zed's tone and smiled, excited by the prospect of what he must have in store. "Of course. Would you like to go to our room?"

"Yes, sure," her partner nodded, taking her by the small of her back and guiding her back towards the door. Syndra led the masked ninja into their room where, upon closing the door, she promptly pulled his mask off, revealing shaggy black hair, which tumbled over dark eyes and a scarred face. Zed's lips gave Syndra a slight smile as he leaned in and kissed her.

Syndra let out a slight squeak of surprise, as she kissed back, not having expected Zed's sudden affection. "What's gotten into you?"

"Appreciation, Syndra."

"Appreciation?" She chuckled, running her smooth hands over his arms and kissing again.

Zed smiled and brought a gentle finger up to brush her cheek. "Yes. One can only be around something as perfect and selfless as you for so long before they fall victim to your grace."

Syndra blushed, "Well, that's charming… very unlike you."

"I was thinking," Zed grinned, "We should um… no no… I need to do this right." Zed let go of his embrace and stepped back.

"Zed?" Syndra stepped closer, concerned about him, "What's wrong."

"Less is wrong than has been for the last five years of my life. You've given me hope and love and… happiness in ways I cannot even tell you."

"Zed, I feel the sa-"

"Ah-" Zed cut her off, holding up a hand. "Please let me finish this love." Zed took a deep breath before continuing, "We've made a great many promises to each other- all of which I intend to live out- but until then, I wanted to do something to show you that I mean to be with you until the end." Slowly Zed looked down at his quivering knees and knelt down, pulling a small box from his pocket and opening it for Syndra to see. Inside sat a small but bright purple gem on a silver band. "Syndra, will you please marry me?"

* * *

"Oh screw that!" Yasuo pouted, looking Lux up and down as they prepared to leave Demacia's gates. "No way. Not a chance! Look at her! She looks like a princess, not a traveler." Yasuo gestured angrily at Lux who was clad in shining silver armor that looked as polished as could be. Her blue silky shirt and pants with white lace detailing didn't help her case either.

Lux looked at Ezreal and then at the ground, "Is it really that bad?" Lux didn't much like the idea of being so amateurish in comparison to her companions. Lux may not have had an adventure before but her determination was unrivaled among her classmates. Few of the students at Demacia's School for the Arcane had managed much more than minor figmints of magic by her age let alone fully formed spells and abilities. Lux had worked hard to be where she was at the top of her class and now that she had the chance to take her skills into the real world, she wasn't so sure she stood up to the challenge.

"You are fine Lux, lovely in fact!" Ezreal chuckled, lightly patting her shoulder. "I hope you aren't looking to keep that armor clean though. I don't see that lasting long."

The small blonde looked up at the explorer with a bright, excited look in her eyes, "I don't mind getting my hands dirty! I just want to help!"

"Perfect! Then I think everything will be just fine," Riven cut in.

Yasuo grumbled frustrated and paced back and forth several times, turning his hat over and over in his hands as he attempted to restrain himself from protesting further. "Fine… Let's just go."

"Let's get to it!" Ezreal cheered, taking his first few steps outside the wall with an energetic and positive spring that made Lux giggle and Yasuo roll his eyes.

* * *

It was several days until the first landmark Ezreal was looking for came into view, the Great Barrier. The Great Barrier was an ancient and vast wall that stretched all the way across Valoran from East to West, cutting of the Northern half of the continent from the Southern. As the story went, long ago a great conflict called the Rune Wars led to the construction of the divider to not only keep separate the two opposing civilizations but to hide away the enormous amount of destruction that fell upon the world after the war's end. The Southern part of Valoran was someplace that few ever traveled. It was scarred by battle, lost empires, and untamed wildlife. To travel into some parts of it was to court death.

"Okay," Ezreal pondered, slowing his pace as they reached the base of the wall, "There is supposed to be a monster that lives here, so I think it's best that we stay single file and be as quiet as possible. I don't want to have to hurt whatever it is that lives here."

"Or let it hurt us?" Riven questioned, wondering what kind of monster it could be.

Ezreal looked at her with a knowing grin, "Trust me. The monster would be the one to get hurt. I'm not letting any of you get hurt. I'm the guide right?!"

Yasuo laughed, "Kid, your job is to get us to the library in Shurima. If there's any trouble, I can handle it."

The explorer shrugged, "Suit yourself. But keep it down." With that, Ezreal started tiptoeing over rubble into a passageway in the wall's massive side. The dark tunnel led the four adventurers up several flights of stairs up to the top of the wall that must have been fifty meters tall. As they entered the dark passage, Lux drew out her long blue and gold wand, a little over two feet in length and conjured a luminescent bulb right at the tip, filling the staircase with an incandescent glow. Once at the top, Yasuo looked out across the top of the Great Barrier. It was thick, probably even wider than the streets in Demacia and made of solid rock. While there was rubble and dust coating the floor, the ancient structure held strong through the centuries or even millennia through which it had stood tall.

"Okay, really careful. We need to get to the other side of the wall over there and go down the stairs on the other side. Got it?" Ezreal looked around the group and noted understanding from all three of his fellows. Slowly, he took one tentative step before jumping into the air and disappearing, instantly reappearing on the other side in a dull flash of golden light.

"Well that almost feels like cheating…" Yasuo smirked.

"Shush!" Riven hissed as she edged her way out and across the wall, her eyes growing wide as she noted something that was sill out of vision for Yasuo and Lux. Urgently, she made a swiping motion across her neck, alerting the two still waiting that this was serious. Something was there.

"You're up girl," Yasuo whispered to Lux who was leaning against the doorway out, her face pale.

"Yeah, right…" She murmured. Lux carefully and slowly made her way out onto the wall, edging across to the waiting Riven and Ezreal who both waved encouragingly for her to continue across but when her eyes shifted up to look at what Riven saw, she froze in place, her expression turning to stone. She stood, shocked for a moment and Ezreal's eyes opened wide as he saw what was about to happen. In her terror, Lux's wand was slipping from her grasp. Ezreal disappeared in a flash of light, diving towards the metal rod as it hurdled down towards the stone floor but he was too late. By the time he reached it, the metallic clang was ringing and reverberating all around them, quickly followed by a huge heavy breath and a snarl from the area that Yasuo still could not see.

"What is it?" he hissed urgently.

"Forget it!" Ezreal called, "It's awake! We need to go!"

"What the hell is it?!" Yasuo yelled as he dashed into the clearing and was stunned in amazement and fear, as he looked up at the monster that was now bearing down upon the adventurers.

"It's a… It's a…" Lux stammered.  
Ezreal furrowed his brow as his gauntlet sparked to life with arcane energy, getting ready for a fight. "It's a dragon…"


	14. Harmony and Chaos

"Is this real, Zed?" Syndra sighed, gazing down at the luminescent purple stone on her finger from her armchair in the private room of the temple that she shared with Zed.

"Is what real?" Zed grunted as he landed another punch on a training dummy, making it waver back and forth. He turned around, unwrapping bandage tape from around his fists.

Syndra gestured around the room, "All of it? Seems like a lot has changed for us recently."

Zed smiled under his mask and moved over to lean against her chair, "Well of course! My most hated enemy, dead, my most beloved ally, engaged. I'd be horribly disappointed if it wasn't real after all of the work we have done."

Syndra laughed, "As would I." She reached up and tapped her finger nails on Zed's mask, making a cold clanging noise, "This isn't coming to our wedding," she mused.

"What? Why not?" Zed joked, "How else am I to look the part?"

Syndra gave a tug on the edge of the mask, "I'm sure you'll find a way." With that, she sat back in her chair and rested her arms on her lap.

Zed nodded and walked around in front of her and knelt down to her level, "In that case, I'm going to ask a favor of you." Syndra raised an eyebrow, her interest clearly peaked. "Let our wedding be just us and someone to officiate. Nobody else."

Syndra chuckled, "Zed, I know you very well at this point. I wasn't expecting anything different."  
"Really?" Zed inquired, "I've become that horribly predictable?"  
"Well, only to me," Syndra smirked, "But that's alright, isn't it? A big scary ninja is allowed to have one weakness, right?"

Zed got to his feet and walked away a few feet before turning back, "Only if the scary ninja's wife has none."

"Well lucky you…"

"Good. Then why wait? I think we should get married tomorrow."

Syndra hopped up from her chair and quickly closed the distance between herself and Zed, looking into his mask skeptically, "Truly?"

Zed nodded and took her hands in his, "Of course! We've no reason to wait. Plus, won't it be nice to have all of that in line before we worry about taking over the world together?"

The witch nodded to confirm, but didn't lose her skeptical look as she closed her hands around her fiancé's, "This is very unlike you, Zed. Me before the mission? Don't tell me you're having doubts."

"No doubts Syndra. That's why I want to marry you tomorrow. None at all."

* * *

Yasuo took a deep breath, sizing up his new enemy, eye to eye with the beast for what felt like an eternity. It's jagged red and orange scales lay haphazardly upon its crooked spine and the edges of its wings. Its razor sharp teeth jutted out from its jaw in a threatening ring of sword sized bones. For once, Yasuo had very little to say. But suddenly, the beast took a step forward, opening its mouth and revealing what looked like the inside of a blacksmith's furnace.

"Get it together, Lux," Riven hissed, gathering up the light mage's wand and forcing it into her hand.

Lux quickly nodded and spun her wand between her fingers in an un-convincing guise of confidence. "Yeah! We've got this!"

Yasuo rolled his eyes, "Just stay out of our way, Princess." With that, he unsheathed his blade and held it in front of him, pointing directly at the dragon's face. The dragon responded with an aggressive growl that sounded more like an avalanche than any mortal creature. "Well, I suppose no use in waiting!" Yasuo give a quick grin to Ezreal and Riven and leaped forward, blade in hand.

Ezeral brought up his gauntlet to his forehead and shook his head, "Is he trying to kill himself?"

"Sometimes I wonder!" Riven shouted as she too rushed forward, kicking up gravel in her wake. Yasuo was first to land a strike directly on the Dragon's short, armored snout. His blade sunk into its flesh only an inch or two before running out of momentum. The dragon's thick skin would be too much for a simple slash to penetrate. Riven was next, swinging her heavy, broken blade directly into the dragon's front ankle, connecting with its flesh between the scales. A howl of pain escaped the dragon and its eyes lit up bright orange color that matched the fire in its jaws. Yasuo quickly took a leap back as a ball of flame launched from the beast's mouth and landed directly where he had been standing, leaving smoldering embers in the rocks.

"Well shit…" Yasuo grumbled, extending his hand to send a breeze over the embers, blowing them a few yards to where they would not pose a threat.

Ezreal laughed and was the next to rush in, shooting a barrage of small arcane bolts that each made their mark on the dragon's thick hide. "Leave it to me! Some of my blasts will hurt regardless of those scales!"

Yasuo rolled his eyes and smiled, "Don't get cocky, kid."

"He's doing more than you so far," Riven pointed out, giving another whack at the dragon's ankle and eliciting another roar. This time though, the dragon swiped at the Noxian with its enormous claws, finding its mark on her chest plate and slamming her back into the ground with a grunt.

Ezreal responded in kind by disappearing and reappearing in a flash of light on the other side of the dragon, attempting to draw its attention away from Riven as she shakily got back to her feet, claw marks now crossing her chest gear diagonally.

"Don't worry! I'll help!" Lux shouted desperately as she swung her wand and cast a large circular ball of light at the dragon. The ball quickly whirred through the air to the dragon's position and exploded on contact, suddenly expanding and popping with energy. Unfortunately, the explosion also caught Riven, drawing a cry of pain from her as she stumbled back again, dropping her sword.

"What was that, you moron?!" Yasuo shouted furiously, waving his hand at Lux and conjuring a powerful gust that lifted her off her feet and sent her flying at a nearby boulder. "Didn't I say to stay out of the way? Now look what you've done!"

"Son of a…" Ezreal muttered as he disappeared again in a flash of light and reappeared behind Lux, catching her right before she hit the boulder and cushioning the impact. "Enough friendly fire! Focus! Or did everyone but me forget about the dragon?!"

Yasuo angrily turned back to the dragon just in time to notice another fireball headed directly for him. He instinctively swung his sword upwards in and attempt to redirect the fireball but was just barely too slow. Caught in the chest by the flames, Yasuo was knocked back onto the ground and quickly rolled out of the embers, black burn marks now littering his clothes.

Ezreal looked around at all of his companions, out of the fight for one reason or another and shrugged, "I guess he wants to fight the best!" Gingerly, he turned Lux around and placed a hand on her shoulder, "You good?" Lux looked shaken but ultimately unharmed and was able to give a quick nod back. "Alright then," Ezreal grinned, "Looks like I'm up." Slowly, Ezreal stepped around Lux and towards the dragon that was closing in, a confident grin on his face as he dusted the dirt from his clothes. The dragon was already looking tired and rather beaten with scorch marks from the arcane blasts all over and what was pretty clearly a broken ankle. Nevertheless, it continued bearing down upon the travelers. "Now I wish I didn't have to do this, but you're not giving me a whole lot of options here…"

Yasuo and Riven both watched skeptically from their positions on the ground as Ezreal continued his confident stride towards the Dragon. It almost looked like he was giving up as the dragon began to open its mouth and the furnace inside erupted to life. "Ezreal! What are you doing?!" Yasuo called. Their guide did not respond but just kept walking with that same smug look on his face even as the fireball left the dragon's mouth. Swiftly, Ezreal took a step to the right and let the fireball pass, making a loud explosion behind him. In response, he launched a bolt of magic that seemed to scorch one of the dragon's thick scales, but not much more. The beast snarled angrily and leaned its head back, heating up for another go. The second fireball came just a foot from his face before another magical flash of light went off and Ezreal reappeared ten feet above the dragon and began falling towards it.

"Let's see how you like this!" he shouted as he pulled back an invisible bow string and a huge wall of arcane blasts came to life, the recoil launching Ezreal a few more feet up and raining magic down upon the dragon's entire body. The dragon howled and roared as it fell down onto its belly and let out a low grunt as Ezreal landed on its back, his feet firmly planted in its back. "Now, that wasn't so bad!" Ezreal smirked.

Riven let out a sigh of relief. "Couldn't have opened with that one?" she grumbled, as Lux helped her to her feet. The young Demacian looked over Riven's injuries with discomfort and a clear expression of guilt but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Riven continued, turning and looking her in the eyes, "Don't worry about it Lux. You got a good hit in on the dragon too and who knows what it would have done to me if you hadn't. We can work on the aim a bit, but I'm glad you helped." Lux's expression broke into a smile of admiration at Riven's mercy and kindness.

Yasuo wasn't so pleased. "Really? You're going to praise that? If Ezreal hadn't been here to bail us out, we'd be food right now."

Ezreal took a leap off of the dragon and landed with a crunch in the gravel, walking confidently towards Yasuo, "At least what she did was an accident. What was the point in throwing our own teammate at the rocks?! You're the one who put us in extra danger." Yasuo walked straight through Ezreal, pushing him to the side and looked Lux in the eye, "You mean well, I get that. But you're the only person here without field experience and I expect you to do what I say when it comes to battle."

Riven scowled and crossed her arms, stepping up to meet Yasuo, "Who put you in charge?"

"I did," Yasuo said shortly, "You and I are the ones on the mission Riven, so it's got to be one of us. And last I checked, I'm not the Noxian murderer who owes the other her life."

That touched a nerve with Riven, who quickly stepped between Yasuo and Lux, the runes on her sword beginning to glow green. "I don't owe you a damn thing! Get over your damn pride Yasuo. I messed up your life. Sorry! But I'm not going to torture myself over that any longer! I was indoctrinated by Swain and I have and continue to make up for the mistakes of my past. Can you say the same? All I see is a shell of a man holding his dead brother's sword and trying to turn away a girl who just wants to help us."

The group fell silent for a moment as Yasuo processed what he had just heard, slowly nodding his head. "Fine. You know what? Fine. You're right. I am a shell of who I was before what happened with Thresh and those souls and a day doesn't go by when I don't regret every single decision I made that led to that. I'm just here to get this damn job done so that some bastard who even scared the goddam horsemen of the apocalypse doesn't screw everything up even more. That's why I'm here. Not for me, for everyone else. And if I have to, I'll do what has to be done. Whatever has to be done."

Riven took a step towards him, holding her hand out to pause him, "That's not what I'm saying. We have very clearly had our differences but from the few times when we've gotten along for more than a few minutes, I can tell you're not a bad guy! Just try to have some sympathy for poor Lux. She's not you. Do you really want her to be?"

The Ionian shrugged, "I suppose not. Perhaps I should take it easy." Yasuo didn't make eye contact but tilted his head in Lux's direction, "Sorry for uh… throwing you."

Lux grinned, "That's alright Yasuo. I forgive you. Thanks." Riven couldn't believe it. Did Yasuo really just apologize for something he did? She was finding it hard to believe that this was the same traveler she once fought.

Suddenly, Ezreal piped up, "Well, it's nice that we're all friends now- Soooo nice- but we need to get going. This thing isn't dead, just knocked out. So unless any of you want round two…"

Riven perked up and looked at Lux who quickly shook her head, "Yeah, no! I think we're good! Let's go!"

* * *

So uh… hey guys. Long time, no see. Thanks for waiting for so long for this story to be continued. I hope what Diovolo and I have in store for you makes it worth the wait, but I realize that waiting this long is kinda inexcusable to an extent. We were busy, what can I say? But on the bright side, we really want to start writing more again.

We have lots of new ideas and hopefully a new breath of inspiration to keep us going. We want to do a series of 5-10 chapter stories for lots of champions after finishing LotS. The first of them will likely give you a feel for what all the rest are going to be like but we can't give it away because SPOILERS! All stories will take place within the same universe as The Unforgiven (Including that Jayce story that is sitting there on my page with only 1 chapter). Hopefully you'll like where we take it because we think it's going to be really fun and likely very time consuming. Since we have loads of content we want to do from all over the LoL universe, there will probably be something for everyone.

Until then, LotS still has a long way to go. Maybe 10-15 more chapters. Hope you enjoy them and see you… well… when we see you.


	15. Night Talks

"Marcus, good to see you, my friend, come here with haste," Zed requested from his place on the steps of the Kinkou Temple. It was nearing midnight and the space was lit only with the light of the torches that still littered the temple. It was a warm evening, the wind only gently rolling through the hills of Ionia. The young ninja made his way slowly up to the master and tilted his head curiously to the side, stopping a few feet away.

"May I ask why you called for me, Master?" Marcus inquired, a little nervously. Zed waved his hand for Marcus to sit and the acolyte complied silently, taking a seat on the steps, still a couple of feet from Zed.

"I feel that I can trust you more than the rest," Zed contemplated. "Is that true?"

Silence bit the air for a few moments as Marcus considered how best to respond to this curious inquisition. "I suppose so, yes. But um… Why do you ask?"

"Because I would like to speak with someone whom I can trust."

Again, Marcus let the silence go for a moment to see if Zed was going to add to that but, seeing that he wasn't, he timidly spoke up again, "Why not Syndra, Master? You two are close, are you not?"

Zed softly chuckled and reached out to place a hand on the young ninja's shoulder, "That is exactly why I must speak with you, my friend. You see, she and I are getting married tomorrow evening." It was all Marcus could manage to keep his jaw from dropping in amazement. Several questions were racing through his mind such as, 'Why now? Why is he talking to me? Ninjas can even get married? Gosh I shouldn't have broken up with that girl when I joined the Kinkou! What might have been? Would I be married now? Kids? Oh gosh, too far. Get back on topic or he's going to hate you, Marcus!'

Marcus coughed softly and shook his head, "That's rather unexpected, Sir. What can I do for you?"

Zed leaned back on the steps and sighed, "Be an ear for me tonight and never tell a soul what I am going to divulge to you. Understood?" Marcus nodded, not blinking at all as he watched his mentor. "Good. Then I'll start by asking you a question then. What is a warrior's relationship with his weaknesses?"

The younger ninja contemplated for a moment before responding, "They are to be beaten, overcame." Zed nodded, prompting more. "They um… they must be considered before any action is made."

The master held up a hand and silenced the acolyte, "Precisely. I am going to tell to you my one true weakness."

Marcus could not stop his jaw from dropping this time, "What?! Why would you do that? You trust me that much?!"

Zed laughed, "Of course not! I just know that you can't exploit my weakness."

'Oh, glad he thinks so highly of me,' Marcus grumbled internally.

Zed sighed again and redirected his gaze at a nearby torch as its flame flickered and waved in the breeze, "My weakness is my soon-to-be wife. If someone wanted to get to me, truly get to me, they could do it by attacking her."

Marcus smiled nervously and leaned to try and look at Zed's eye slits, "Well that's not so bad though. To be honest, Master, she is one of the most terrifying combatants I've ever seen. I can't imagine many people could pose a threat to her."

"That's very true, Marcus. But that doesn't change the fact that I fear for what might happen to her. Recently she and I were in a battle with Shen and Akali and I honestly did worry for her. Of course, as it ended up, I needed her help more than she needed mine, but that doesn't change it. I can't let anything happen to her. Just the thought of it… it makes me so… angry." Zed relented and looked at Marcus who he noticed was shrinking away, edging away fearfully. "Sit up straight. You're a goddam ninja of the Order of Shadow!"

Marcus instantly obeyed and looked down, "Sorry Sir. It's just you look rather intimidating right now."

Zed looked down at himself and actually jumped slightly at what he saw. Like fog, shadows were emanating, ebbing from the folds in his armor, drifting around him in the air. "What is this?" The shadow ninja took a deep breath and focused for a moment, drawing the shadows back into the armor and exhaling. "I apologize… That was unintentional."

The younger man shrugged, "I don't mind Sir. I was just nervous with the way you were getting aggravated. Are you okay?"

Zed brushed off the question, "Of course I am. I'm fine. And thank you for hearing me out. You may go." Zed leaned his head back on the stairs, taking continuous deep breaths.

Standing to go, Marcus looked down at his new mentor and maybe even friend, "May I ask a question before I go?"

Tiredly, the masked ninja waved his hand, "Go ahead."

"Why did you kill Shen? It seems like you had a grudge."

Zed sat up and turned around, intrigued, "You truly must be new to not know that story."

"Well I don't."

For a moment, the air was silent again before the older man motioned to the steps, "Then you'd best have a seat again. This is not a brief answer." Quietly, the acolyte did as instructed and took up a place near his master. "It was nearly six years ago that Shen and I were best friends, training together in this very temple. We were training partners and dueled constantly. Of course, with his bloodline, he had a certain advantage and came out on top most of the time."

"Bloodline?"

"The eye of twilight. It was his family's greatest inheritance. He, and his father before him, possessed unique abilities with ki. A kind of sixth sense that could be manipulated. Back when we were sparring, it allowed Shen to see my attacks coming before I made them. It allowed his father to do far more. Even as Shen died in Zaun, he had still not fully unlocked his potential. His father was… infuriating even in his final moments. So arrogant…"

Zed looked at his young charge for a reaction but, getting only a curious gaze, decided t continue. "I was young when I adventured to the inner sanctum of the temple. There, I found what is referred to simply as 'The Box.' Curious, much like you are, my friend, I opened it and was caught in an onslaught of shadows. They twisted themselves around me, creeping under my skin and through my whole body. In fear of the sensation, I slammed the box shut and fled. But in the next few days, I discovered that I had taken some of the shadows with me. In my next fight with Shen, I managed to defeat him by instinctively shifting past him into his shadow behind him and punching him in the back. Even I did not know what exactly I had done. Shen's father, my master, did. He scolded me for finding the box, for having the courage to look into it and for being given a gift. A gift that was greater than his son's. He wanted to purge the shadows from me and we argued in the temple whist the rest of the Kinkou were outside training…"

Marcus blinked and watched Zed attentively, "And then what happened?"

"I don't remember exactly what happened next. I felt angry. Furious that my own master would dare to accuse me of being lesser because I dared to do what he was too cowardly to do. Just because it had been generations since the box had been opened does not mean I shouldn't have done it… Marcus, remember this well. Tradition is the corpse of wisdom. Just because another fears something, does not mean you should follow in their cowardly footsteps. I learned that day that the shadows were my destiny, they were a part of me. So, for that, my master had to die. He wanted them gone. I could not allow that. When the rest discovered what I had done, I spoke to the temple, I made my case and a few brave souls agreed with me. We tried to take control of the temple, as we finally have now. But we were… defeated. As the heroic men fought to save our future, I ran back into the temple only to find my master, bleeding and clutching the box, my knife still in his chest. It must have cost him all of the strength he had left just to snatch it up in his pitiful hands. His eyes were glowing purple. I tried to stop him but before I could do anything, the box disappeared from his grasp and I know not where it went."  
Marcus gasped, "But how?"

"A trick from the Eye of Twilight. One Shen never fully mastered. He only ever learned to transport himself, never objects or others. To his credit, never the less, he was deprived of his teacher and father on that day as I finished the job and ended his existence. Shen was relentless in his chase. I was leading my men away as he realized what I had done and gave chase. He used his ki to knock me to the ground and he…" Zed reached up and touched his mask, his words failing him as he recalled what Shen had done. Ever slice, ever stab, every cut, the blade forcing itself deeper and deeper into his flesh. "It was only when I managed to kick him off that my men covered me and allowed me to retreat until I was ready to return and face him again. And that, I did."

The young ninja nodded solemnly, "I know. We all felt it when the Eye of Twilight came to an end. The temple seemed to be lit up with his essence and even the ground shook with the weight of his defeat."

Zed shrugged, "The Eye of Twilight has always been linked to this temple, I suppose that it is possible that his death may have caused the temple to shake. Is that where all the rubble inside came from?"

Marcus nodded, "Yes, Master."

"Curious… I suppose only one person can tell me for sure what happened."

"Who?"

Zed stood up and walked up to the top of the steps and glanced down at Marcus, "Akali, of course. But that is a matter for another day. Now I have to rest before the ceremony tomorrow."

Marcus stood and dashed up the stairs, stopping in front of Zed to bow deeply, "Yes Sir. Thank you for telling me so much. I will never utter a word of what you have disclosed to me."

Zed smiled under his mask, "Trust that you don't. Farewell, my friend."

* * *

The camp fire crackled that night as Yasuo, Riven, Lux, and Ezreal rested from their long days' travel, sore feet and scraped up bodies laid back on the ground as they gazed up at the stars. Ezreal entertained the group with stories about his youth when he lived in Piltover and craved adventure so badly that he braved the horrid sewer system and underground tunnel network and charted the whole place simply because he didn't know what was down there. Then he told the story of Piltover's town hero, Jayce, and his battle with the most maniacal mad scientist in all of Zaun, Viktor.

It wasn't long before Yasuo started to doze off but Lux and Riven listened intently; Lux more so than Riven. After a few hours, Ezreal had grown tired and, despite having dozens more stories to tell, decided to call it a night and wrapped himself in his blanket.

It was then that Lux turned to Riven with a much more serious expression on her face than she had dawned while swooning over Ezreal's adventures. "Riven?" She started slowly, tentatively.

Riven pressed her palms into the dirt and sat herself up, looking quizzically at the Demacian girl, "Yes? What's going on?"

Lux tilted her head back and forth as if weighing options in her head, "So, earlier in your erm… dispute with Yasuo, something kind of came out that I was going to ask you about."

Riven had a feeling that she knew where this was headed but played along anyway, "And what was that?" she responded politely, folding her hands in her lap.

Again, Lux seemed to weigh her options, "Since the guys are asleep, I wanted to ask you in private. Are you really a um… Noxian?" She whispered the last word as if uttering a horrible curse that she ought not to be repeating.

Riven had, in fact, known where this conversation was going and she nodded, "Yes, I am a Noxian. But I'm exiled now, both because I want to be and because I have to be."

"Huh," Lux pondered, I wonder what that must be like. You don't seem particularly evil to me.

Riven laughed, "Well not all Noxians are evil, Lux. Just some are, well, less savory than others. Demacia is the same way, right?"

Lux raised an eyebrow, "What? No! Demacia is the pinnacle of justice and courage! We're nothing like Noxus."

Riven crossed her arms and shook her head, "I hate to burst your bubble but you've got some pretty messed up traditions too."  
"Like what? Name one!" Lux cut in, accusatorially.

"Let's see," Riven started sarcastically, "One of your oldest traditions is the hunting of dragons for sport. You've forced them almost completely out of the north half of the world! The one we fought was probably one of the lucky ones to escape! Demacia sticks its nose in other city's business and tries to influence their politics! Piltover is one example of that, the Freljord is another. The same way Noxus influences Zaun, you Demacians try to influence other places; even if those places want to be left alone."

"Fine!" Lux grumbled, "We're not perfect. But we're no where near as bad as Noxians."

"You're not as bad as Noxus, I'll give you that. But Noxus and Noxians are very different things, Lux. The citizens are a lot like the ones in Demacia in a lot of ways. Most people live normal lives as traders, merchants, entertainers, artists, lots of stuff! Due to the way Noxian culture works, a lot of the more manipulative and violent ones rise to power, but that doesn't make the normal people any less significant. That's why I still love Noxus."

As the conversation continued, the women did not notice that Ezreal was stirring, not quite completely asleep yet and, hearing the work Noxian, he perked up. "What are you two talking about?"

Lux looked over at Ezreal and grinned, "About how Riven is a Noxian soldier gone rogue to save the world!" Riven burst out laughing, waking Yasuo too.

Groggy, the Ionian sat up and rubbed his head, "The hell is going on?"

Ezreal grumbled and looked down, clenching his fist, "Noxians… I hate those guys." Everyone else suddenly fell silent to look at Ez, who looked up and noticed all the attention. "I mean, except you Riven, you're cool."

The Noxian smiled and nodded, "Thanks Ezreal. You're cool too."

Yasuo rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, we all love each other, great. Can we sleep now?"

"No Yasuo!" Lux piped up, "You have to tell us what you know about Noxus and about Riven! I mean, you two have clearly known each other a while! How'd you meet?" Lux smiled brightly at Yasuo, having absolutely no idea what button she was pushing.

Suddenly much more awake, Yasuo moved over closer to the fire and sat down, "You want me to tell a story? Fine! Here's what happened." Riven rolled her eyes, sure of where this was going as well. "I was one of the best Ionian soldiers until one day we were attacked by Noxus. I got assigned to protect an elder and, in my ignorance, I left my post to go fight the Noxian general, Darius, out on the battlefield. While I was gone, a Noxian snuck past our lines and into the village and killed the elder with a wind attack, making it look like I had done it. Nobody suspected that someone else could possibly be talented enough to use a wind blast like that and it was, after all, my post, so they assumed it was me. I was set to be executed but I ran. From there, I traveled across the world, met lots of people, even visited Noxus. I found out how twisted that place really is and discovered that the killer I was after had left Noxus and that Noxus's Grand General, Swain actually wanted her dead as much as I did. Long story short, I chased a killer for a long time before I met her and realized that she wasn't the monster I was looking for. She was a product of Noxus, but she didn't have to stay that way. She's okay."

Riven brought a hand over her heart and feigned tears, "Yasuo, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. I'm okay?"

Yasuo smirked, "Yeah, you're fine. In fact, "he continued, looking at Lux and Ezreal, "I found out that in reality, I was much guiltier that she was. I did some horrible things, trying to prove how innocent I was. Kind of ironic…"

Riven frowned, "But, I pushed him to do all of that. He was only trying to get his life back on track."

Lux and Ezreal looked at each other in disbelief. Were these two really getting along and talking about how good the other was? Weird night. Really weird night…

* * *

Author's notes: Welcome to chapter 15... well... that was chapter 15. Hope ya liked it. Next time on LotS: A wedding, a heist, and the end of the journey to find Zilean!


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